Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 26 Oct 10:14 am

DiNardo images

Tom DiNardo is a phenomenal photographer. I knew his pictures before I met the man, and after meeting this awesome fellow, I am honored to publish a few shots.

If you hear news about the death of the Hubble Telescope, I think Tom uses extra bits of it in his camera; he gets some amazingly high-resolution pictures.

These images he took are from the final day of training before the Vancouver world cup ST racing that is happening right now.

Here is Anthony Lobello leading Travis Jayner

Question: When was the last time you saw a Dutch national team speedskater who was not favored to “veni, vedi, vici”?

Answer: If it is one of their short trackers.

It’s great technical practice to skate short track turns with both hands on the back, you have to be really centered with your weight, and quite focused. I think this is Allison Baver, very focused.

Forza Italia, con quelli caschi blu!

I always have thought that the British short track scene must be very much like the USA one. A small number of dedicated athletes, from just a few regions of the country. Rule Britannia!

As I have said over and over, compression=speed. You can clearly see it when Apolo skates.

The great thing about speedskating is that it’s pretty clear what makes you go fast. The terrible thing about speedskating is it takes a stunning amount of work to strengthen your body & perfect your technique enough to do it.

With all the athletes pictured here, you are seeing a lifetime work shown in these brief images. Thanks Tom!

p.s. still no news… Jess is now a week late.

Filed under: from home

14 Responses to “DiNardo images”

Melissa, on October 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm Said:

Thanks for the beautiful pictures! Tom’s work is amazng!

But in your first picture it’s ANTHONY LOBELLO (not J.R.) and that looks like ALLISON BAVER instead of Kim Derrick to me (but I could be wrong). Just thought you’d like to know. ;]

Thank you for posting, Andrew!
andrew, on October 26th, 2008 at 2:03 pm Said:

Thanks Melissa (and a few others who emailed the same correction).

Anthony usually sports a “five-o-clock shadow” look all day long, so I think that threw me off, and as for Allison/Kim, I don’t know the women as well as I do the guys, so I was trying to match the Pink boots to the right skater.
Melissa, on October 26th, 2008 at 2:27 pm Said:

I know what you mean, Andrew. It’s a bit odd seeing him cleaned up. As for Allison - I hadn’t even realized she had pink boots. LOL. I was just looking at her face.
carla, on October 26th, 2008 at 6:11 pm Said:

Well, the problem is…when most of us skate short track, we don’t see these people from the front Those are incredible pictures!
Andrew Love- No Baby Yet (And Also Short Track Images) « Speed Skate World- By Peter Doucet- Online Since 1999, on October 26th, 2008 at 6:37 pm Said:

[…] and Andrew Love put up an entry with sweet pictures by Tom DiNardo- see DiNardo images- With all the athletes pictured here, you are seeing a lifetime work shown in these brief images. […]
Skeeler, on October 26th, 2008 at 7:50 pm Said:

Just got home from the WC. It was absolutely amazing how Canada and the USA fought for Gold in the Relay. USA won, of course, and it was even better to see a former teammate, JR Celski, help bring home the Gold!
Bri, on October 27th, 2008 at 7:27 am Said:

Wow, those look wicked! I’m happy that J.R. did so well at the world cup!
Tim "Skeeler" Demerjian, on October 27th, 2008 at 8:30 am Said:

I posted at timdemerjian.blogspot.com

There will be more to follow.
John Monroe, on October 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pm Said:

So the fact that someone is a Dutch short track skater means that you get to ridicule them whenever you feel like it? C’mon Andrew, you can do better.
henk, on October 31st, 2008 at 7:33 am Said:

We in Holland are too tall for short track.
Breanna, on November 5th, 2008 at 2:31 pm Said:

Hi,
Does Tom DiNardo have a website? I am looking for a photographer for my upcoming wedding in July and wanted to see if he does other photography other than just action.

Thanks!
andrew, on November 5th, 2008 at 10:37 pm Said:

John,

I have tremendous respect for the athletes, I am not trying to ridicule anyone, I’ve seen the dutch go 1-2-3 at the podium in long track world cups several times in the 5k & 10k. Their long trackers are SO good, is feels unusual to see any dutch skaters who are not top 20 in the world.

A true opportunity for ridicule is when I try and skate short track!! lets just get that point out in the open!
John Monroe, on November 6th, 2008 at 3:40 pm Said:

Andrew,
your comment still comes across as “they’re a joke”. Sorry, but that is how it sounds. I realize you don’t intend it to be that way, but as a coach, I can tell you that sometimes what we say is not what others hear.
You may want to do a little research about the history of Dutch ST - and especially the relay teams from the late 80’s that won multiple world titles, and were the ONLY team that the Canadians (and pretty much everyone else) were truly afraid of. See you in Vancouver.
Barraldinho, on January 22nd, 2009 at 5:29 am Said:

Hi all- DiNardio makes some very nice pictures- respect to him
but he is NOT the best ST snapper . if you want truly phenomemal shots and lots of them check out Alison Gilkes
www dot shorttrackphotos dot com-
Latest work from turin is here - best on the planet bar none.

www.knsb.nl/live-2009/ek/shorttrack/foto.asp

Alison got her photo pass for Vancouver ! ! ! ! book her pictures now before the rush.

congratulations to John Monroe -great realy teams in Turin- i see a huge improvement in the dutch team in the last year -mr Knet and Anita looking very solid. I can say as matter of record -as I raced against them in the 80’s -the dutch were awesome in thier day-thier time will come again , and very soon.

search for me on youtube
Barraldinho

bb