Calgary's Olympic Oval reopens to Canada's speed skaters

Speedskating oval reopens after a year After over a year of being shut down, the speedskating oval reopened Friday and speedskaters are pumped.

CALGARY — Team Canada speed skating athletes have resumed training on the Olympic Oval’s 400 meter ice track after a 12 month shut-down.

“It’s a significant milestone for us to reopen the building for our national team and our other athletes that come to train here,” said Peter McCrory, director of Olympic Oval.

Along with national calibre athletes, the facility is also open to Calgarians.

“We also service a much broader audience,” said McCory.

“We are excited to welcome them back into this remarkable and very excited legacy building.”

A mechanical failure in September prevented the making of ice. The heat exchanger in the ice plant needed to be replaced and it took months to fix the problem.

“We wanted to make sure we had the right solution,” said McCory. “So we can live up to our reputation of providing world class programs and services with the fastest ice in the world.”

Officails at the oval are now working to host a World Cup competition in December.