Florence Brunelle

Biography

Florence Brunelle made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022 where she was part of a fourth-place finish in the women’s 3000m relay. She also competed in the mixed relay and 500m. At 18 years old, she was Canada’s youngest ever Olympian in short track speed skating.

Brunelle represented Canada at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games where she won bronze medals in the 500m and 1000m, becoming Canada’s first ever medallist in short track speed skating at the Youth Olympic Games.

Brunelle has won eight career medals at the ISU World Junior Championships. Just a few weeks after Lausanne 2020, she won silver in the 500m and 1500m. She earned three world junior titles in 2022, winning gold in the 500m, 1000m, and 3000m relay. In 2023, she won her second straight 500m world junior title and added silver medals in the 1000m and 1500m.

Brunelle was just 17 when she made her senior international debut at the 2021 ISU World Championships. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the only international short track event for Canadians during the 2020-21 season. She competed in all three individual events as well as the 3000m relay. She won her first senior world championship medal in 2022, taking silver with the 3000m relay on home ice in Montreal. After not competing at the world championships in 2023 or 2024, she returned in 2025 and won gold medals in the 3000m relay and mixed relay.

Competing in her first career World Cup events in the fall of 2021, Brunelle won two silver medals with the women’s 3000m relay team and one silver in the mixed relay. She did not compete on the World Cup circuit during the 2022-23 season as she needed time to address her mental health and sort through her feelings about skating,

In September 2024, Brunelle won her first national title on the strength of wins in four of the six races. In February 2025, she earned her first individual victory on the ISU Short Track World Tour. Along with an earlier silver medal, it helped her finish the season ranked third in the 500m standings.  

A Little More About Florence

Getting into the Sport: Started speed skating at age 7… Grew up playing high level soccer and competed for the Quebec provincial team before choosing to focus on speed skating in 2018… Was born with just two fingers on her left hand so wears a modified glove for better grip when she has to push off a teammate in relays… Outside Interests: Enjoys playing the ukulele, painting, drawing, reading…