A world champion at 19 – for Nicole Begg it is a dream come true

The talented speedskater has jetted her way home to Timaru with a fistful of medals.

The year, by her own assessment has "been amazing", capped off by taking out the senior women's 10,000m points-elimination race at the World Inline Championships in Angyong, Korea.

The race is considered one of the hardest track races but Begg had little time to celebrate or reflect. She was racing to a bronze medal in the 1000m just 30 minutes later.

"I have to admit the bronze medal seemed real but I struggled to think I was a world champion – but it is a dream come true."

Begg also scored a silver in the 42km road marathon to give her a complete set of medals.

The outstanding results made her second overall on the track, with the points from an athlete's best three track results tallied, and she went one better on the road, named champion.

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Melvindale's Smith wins 500

Melvindale's Jessica Smith -- one of the latest inline skaters to switch to ice skating -- won the women's 500 meters Tuesday in the U.S. Allround Long Track Championships in West Allis, Wis.

Smith won the race in 41.04.2 seconds, beating Maria Lamb of River Falls, Wis. (41.12. 3).

Locally, Smith skates with the Roseville-based Wolverines inline club.

A world champion for the U.S. inline team, she qualified for the U.S. speedskating team in October with an eye on the 2010 Vancouver Games.

"It's not that ice is more exciting than inline," Smith told InlinePlanet.com then. "I'm just ready for a new challenge. And this is a way to get to the Olympics."

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Switzerland for skating's supercoach

Bill Begg's career as an inline skating coach continues to blossom with his appointment as the Swiss national coach.

The 60-year-old Timaru man shows no signs of slowing down and will return to Europe in March having been at the helm of the German national team for the last two years.

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Queen of Canadian sport

Nash, Morneau, Thornton -- Winnipeg's Cindy Klassen beats them all to capture the Lou Marsh Award

Before that she was a member of the national women's junior hockey team, played field lacrosse as a demonstration event at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and competed in the Winnipeg Pan American Games in 1999 as an inline skater. In 2003, she became the first Canadian in 27 years to win the overall title at the world speed-skating championships.

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Morrison donates her locks

Micalah also is an avid inline skater, competing locally, regionally and nationally, finding success on the hardwood. She skates at Fun Zone in Harrisonburg with her skating club, OMNISpeed, a 501 C-3 organization. This summer, she traveled to Lincoln, Neb. to compete nationally.

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