Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Sitting at my desk at work, I missed day 1 of the world cup; Missed Jenny Wolf’s 500m womans world record, as well as Shani’s otherworldly 1500m WR (1:41!!!!!!). But rain & snowstorms notwithstanding, I was there for Day 2!!

German Jenny Wolf & Chinese skater Wang Beixing are OWNING the women’s 500m this year. This is a great rivalry of contrasting styles. Jenny has tremendous explosive power & knee drive off the line, but Wang has Wotherspoon-esque leg extension & technique.

These are not beautiful “skating” pictures, but show Jenny’s power & straight-line knee drive as she explodes off the line, and Wang’s top speed leg extension in the last 50 meters of the 500.

Like Jenny Wolf, Russian Dimitri Lobkov has one of those outrageous fast twitch starts.. I also feel for his lack of control at the very highest speeds (been there myself).

In frame #2, you can see his boot touching the ice. He had some time to think about this before he slammed into the wall. He is going about 36-37mph here, and luckily was fine.

Fentong Yu… coiled pure power here. I have loosely based my own starting style on his. I once followed him for a lap in Calgary, his hips were so stable on the turn entry, It was a clinic on “this is how it should be done”.

If there is someone out there who speaks Chinese & knows Fentong. Tell him “thanks” for the technical inspiration.

Tucker Fredericks is really ON right now for the 500m. He had a slip in the first turn, and still was 3rd. When the 0-show happens, Tucker is going to be in the mix for some hardware.

Korea took the top 2 step of the men’s podium, they are flying this year.

In the women’s 1500m, Jen Rodriguez skated a new American record, and was good for 3rd place. Awesome. She will also be in the hunt for the hardware.

This is not a “pretty” skate picture, as the moment of full extension is the “pretty moment”. But it is at this moment where the left skate is carving into the turn, and has greatest pressure, this ugly moment is what really makes you go fast.

Jen Rodriguez skated a new American record. Awesome, 3rd place to 2 flying Canadians, Christene Nesbitt & Kristina Groves.

Here there are, 300m into the 1500, at that crucial transition step into turn #2. The Canadian women are skating amazingly this year.

Except for the top 2, this is a very tight results board.

Men’s 5,000m

I have seen Chad skate a lot of races over the years. I’ve become convinced that his gift is that he is an artist of pain.

Chad goes for very fast early lap times, and pays hard for it by the finish. Most skaters do look like this in the final turn, but Chad still has 4 laps to go here!

And here with his sweet daughter Hadley afterwards. Chad just signed a sponsorship deal with Pampers!

I can spot that smitten daddy smile anywhere, now that I know what it feels like…

But the awesome race of the day must have been from Italian Enrico Fabris. He is my favorite technical skater since Casey Fitzrandolph retired.

Here is how he zig-zags down the straight, generating maximum power from his lean into each push. The last image is Shani chasing. Such a rare image, to see Shani chasing someone.

Enrico, I plan on skating Masters World Champs later this year in Italy. Every practice, I work on exactly this style of zig-zag straightaway pressure during my warmup, so I can survive these 5k’s you have mastered with this physical artistry.

Filed under: RACE DAY