The recently turned 23-year-old was named Speed Skating Canada’s Jeremy Wotherspoon Long Track Athlete of the Year Award after an incredible break-out season saw him vault into the upper echelons of distance racing in the sport.
It all started in December, when Fish started cracking the top five in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres on a regular basis in World Cup meets. It all led to his first-ever medal with a third-place finish in the 10K at the third meet of the season on Dec. 8, and a week later he had his second bronze, this time as a member of Team Canada in the team pursuit during World Cup #4.
Fish’s solid showings through the first part of the season saw Speed Skating Canada decide he’d shown them enough to earn a spot on the team for the 2020 World Single Distance Championships during the Valentine’s Day weekend.
And the rest? Oh, you better believe it’s history.
He’d open the event at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City with a surprise bronze in the 5,000 metres, his first medal at a world championship race.
As it turns out, that ‘surprise’ was just a harbinger of things to come.
Only 24 hours later, the former Moose Jaw Kinsmen Speed Skating Club competitor would become part of national lore in the sport – a gold medal in the 10,000 metres and a world record on top of it all.
The victory and record instantly made him one of Canada’s athletes to watch in the sport, and a medal hopeful for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Fish is only the third Saskatchewan-born athlete to claim the honour, with Regina’s Lucas Makowsky winning in 2011 and Humboldt’s Wotherspoon, who won it nine times between 1998 and 2008.
