Short & Tall
Here is an image from a recent practice; Japanese Skater & Torino Olympic veteran Eriko Seo leading American Nate Defranco during an endless lap workout. Eriko has wonderful technique, and I really appreciate it even more in the slow-mo video I grabbed these images from. Like many elite skaters, she truly sinks down into each push, whereas many intermediates start low, but step up into each push. Sinking into a push is difficult, but creates more pressure into the ice. Except for Erben Wennemars, you tend to
see this more in distance skaters than sprinters.
Now one might guess from this picture that Eriko is on the shorter side. She actually is average height for a Japanese woman, but the visual impression is skewed by the fact that Nate is 6’5” and about 235lbs (that’s two meters and 106kg for you metric folks).
Interestingly enough these two illustrate the truth about ice long track speedskating that there is no ideal body type. Larger athletes are usually stronger, but being larger also creates increased frictional forces on the ice, and a bigger frontal area creates more wind resistance. Studies say these factors EXACTLY cancel out the increased power a larger individual will have, and if you look at a broad cross section of gold medalists from the past several Olympics, you have quite a selection of sizes & body shapes.
Many think this is not true in short track, people say at the elite level being shorter & lighter is an advantage because of the G-forces they face in every turn. Also being smaller means you can pass through smaller gaps. There are exceptions to this of course, tall & very lean can work too, but in general short trackers are on the short side.
In another note I am sending an international hello to the folks at http://www.israel-rollers.net. My web gnomes tell me many visitors have followed a link from within that site to this one. Despite a wonderful month I once spent in Jerusalem, I have no command of Hebrew. So I could not figure out where the link was, even in the English version.
Utah and Colorado feel much like many parts of Israel in terms of the climate & topography. No only did my time in Israel change me profoundly, but it also personalized many of the world events going on. Every death or injury could be someone I met or know. It makes me thankful to live in the complicated shade of the Pax Americana.
Filed under: from home
it looks like these big guys are lumbering along, trying to catch her
Nate does have an advantage skating outside though. Mike Stein and I were talking and people like me and him who are basically skin and bones get thrown around by the wind but Nate just powers through it. Brian Bodreau (or however you spell it) told me that the reason I’m good at long distance is because my sholders slope down, they aren’t broad. He said that’s the way Chad is.
happily, speedskating is a sport that allows these kinds of tradeoffs to create a variety of champions and thus, opportunity for a variety of people.
sadly, there are probably genetic engineers at work in labs right not plotting ways to “create” the ideal speedskater based on some theoretical assumptions about desirable traits (height, weight, narrow shoulders, big butt, etc.), tilting the playing field in sport in such devious and undetectable ways as to make people long with nostalgia for the good old days when doping was the big scandalous way to cheat.
Yes, I have heard that big folks with lots of power are comparitively kicked around less by gusts of wind outdoors… as a big guy myself, the wind kicks pretty hard… but maybe it would be worse if I was carla-size
but outdoor meets are, sadly, rarer and rarer…
Speedy, in cycling and track and field, there is definately the money and incentive to do exactly what you describe, not on an outward visual basis like a big butt, but certainly on a hormonal/internal chemistry level..
I hope our sport is small enough, the technical demands intense enough, and the potential rewards minimal enough, that many of the most popular sports will have wrestled with this long before it pollutes speedskating..
remember the scene in the Matrix where Neo plugs into a computer that downloads into his brain karate, judo, and combat helicopter skills?? maybe someday one can plug in and download “fitzrandolph skills” !!!!
That would be cool… that guy was so smooth, he just gave me shivers every time I watched him skate…
Andrew, just a correction. That’s Eriko Seo, not Ishino.
Thanks Ryan, I knew Eriko skated the 3k in Torino, so I went to the DESG results list and grabbed the first Eriko I saw… But go figure… there were TWO Eriko’s from japan who skated the 3k!!! thanks….
Don’t forget the great Mia in the back!!!!!
Yes, Mia (the blond in the blue) is a fantastic athlete & has the right mental outlook to make the most of her gifts…
My magic 8-ball says look for her possibly in 2010 & DEFINATELY by 2014… she is crazy strong for ANY age.. the fact that she is just 17 blows my mind…
she is just coasting along in Nate’s considerable draft…
Look for Mia, Ryan Wheeler, Inacio, and Mike Drews.
We asked her if she wanted to do the step 3 abs program with us and she couldn’t handle it. She did most of the exercises rather half-assed and said that’s how the FAST program doesn’t them. I’m disapointed in you guys.
Whoops. I mean does them not doesn’t.
That’s wrong you can’t diss Mia like that she is a great person and she doesn’t do things half-ass. Actually I heard she kicked Paul’s ass, what a sissy.