A total of 28 skaters have been named to the senior of development teams, taking into account their performances from last season.

St-Gelais finished as the overall silver medallist at last year’s World Championships in Seoul, winning the women's 1,500 metres as well as coming second in the 500m and 3,000m relay.

Girard was a silver medallist in the men’s 1,500m, while Hamelin secured bronze in the 1,000m.

The trio have been named in the national team, along with Guillaume Bastille, Kim Boutin, Kasandra Bradette, Charle Cournoyer, Pascal Dion and Valérie Maltais.

François Hamelin, a gold medallist in the 5,000m relay at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, has also been included in the selection.

Namasthée Harris-Gauthier, Sasha Fathoullin and Jamie Macdonald complete the senior team.

They will be hoping to secure places in the Canadian squad for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, which will take place from February 9 to 25 in the South Korean county. 

Canada claimed one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and will be eyeing further success next year in South Korea.

Alyson Charles and Renee Steenge will be among the skaters hoping to make a breakthrough this year, having been named on the development squad.

They featured at the 2017 World Junior Championships.

Alison Desmarais and Maxime Laoun have also been selected, along with Genève Bélanger, Camille De Serres-Rainville, Joanie Gervais, Audrey Phaneuf and Courtney Shmyr.

The selection also includes Samuel Bélanger-Marceau, Cédrik Blais, Steven Dubois, Patrick Duffy, Sébastien Gagnon and William Preudhomme.

The athletes will be based at either the National Centres at the Maurice-Richard Arena in Montreal or at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.