By: Dylan Nazareth

It’s been a long road back to the ice for Gabrielle Daleman.

Owing to a number of unfortunate injuries, the last three years have been marked by surgeries, a lot of rehab, and disrupted training. This season things are finally lining up, after a move to Colorado to train alongside longtime friend Amber Glenn helped get her back in shape. Now in competition form once again, she shared she’s feeling the best she has in years.

“I haven’t felt this good in a long, long time,” Daleman said, speaking in a recent interview. “I just want to keep going on this path.”

In this Olympic season, Daleman’s biggest dream is to earn a spot on Team Canada to represent her country at a third Winter Games. Considering the injuries she’s dealt with, she shared that in pursuing that goal, she’s faced a lot of pushback from people telling her she should hang up her skates. Ultimately, it’s that mentality from others that fueled her to just go for it this season.

“I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” she said. “I think it was just that mindset of doing the sport on my own terms. Not letting anyone tell me what I should be doing. I hate when people tell an athlete when they should quit. If my body is strong and I’m more than talented and capable of doing this, I’m gonna do it.”

Earlier this month, Daleman got off to a good start in her return to international competition, winning Gold at IceChallenge in Graz, Austria. While she’s still hungry to keep pushing herself, she said she’s proud of putting that big result out.

“It was incredible, I haven’t done an international since November of 2022,” she said. “In March I was just learning how to walk again, and in November I’m doing an international and putting up good scores for where I’m at. It was definitely a great motivator and a step in the right direction.”

Taking some confidence from her success in Austria, Daleman is now set on fine-tuning her skating in the lead up to her return to Nationals in early January.

“I think my main focus is to just really lock in and work on the finer details,” she said. “To just keep that mindset of, like, trust your training, you’re good … I have the experience, I have the talent, I have everything I need. I just need to trust it.”

Daleman will next compete at Skate Canada Challenge this weekend in Calgary, alongside a number of fellow Skate Ontario athletes, including Lulu Lin, Hetty Shi, and Reese Rose.