A Vancouver man who gave up a career in banking to pursue his dream of being a speedskater is proving the skeptics wrong.

Kevin Jagger calls himself the "long track long shot," but after two years of intense training he's seeing some significant results.

"I should have been a speedskater my entire life," he laughed.

"Fast forward to today and I'm ranked among the top 70 speedskaters in Canada and I compete on the national circuit, the Canada Cup."

Jagger shared his story with hundreds at the TEDx conference in San Francisco last October.

He was inspired to get out from behind a cubicle after watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

"I can't just focus on the end result, the reality is the dream of all this is living like an athlete," he said.

Hopes to be in Canada's top 20

The 28-year-old trains hard at Calgary's Olympic Oval program alongside athletes 10 years younger, but his coach Abby Ennis says he should be taken seriously.

"He dropped everything to come here and do this and he knows what it's like to be dedicated to something, so he's putting 100 per cent in," she said.

Jagger is also breaking new sponsorship ground and using social media to promote himself and his sponsors.

"It's a story to watch the journey and the progression," said Calgary realtor and sponsor Cliff Stevenson.

"His times, his training, his dedication — how can you not want to be a part of something like that."

His next career goal is to be one of the top 20 speedskaters in the country, all the while enjoying the ride.

"It's like trying to win the lottery, but I don't even have a ticket right now," he said. "You know what I can take care of is — buying that ticket, getting that ticket — training and working hard to get into the top 20."