Zen and the Art of Speedskating

The Dutch ooom-pah Band Kleintje Pils showed up at the rink today. They first appeared at a speedskating race in 1994, and have shown up ever since. They are quite famous, the queen of the Netherlands has honored these guys as “musical ambassadors”.

They play the kind of music that makes you smile, sway back and forth, and want to spill beer on your best friend. I have heard them do an awesome version of Queen’s “We Are The Champions”.

So as I said earlier, the racing for the two 500m events was incredibly intense.

Here are some images.

Chris Needham was one of the first racers to start. Yesterday he was relaxed, but today he told me that the nerves & pressure before his first race was so intense, he felt like his head was going to explode. He ended up skating a 35.5 and a 35.4.

The outrageous power of Dimitri Lobkov. First skating around that block, and then in the turn a moment later. In the lead after the first race, He fell to fourth place after the second. This is the 4th year this has happened to him.

I asked Kip Carpenter if he was happy with his races, he replied “dude, you should always be happy with a 34!!” I like that perspective & re-enforces to me how much this sport is you vs yourself. (of course, for me, the time I should “always be happy with” is much slower).

And Kip’s second race was a personal best! Breaking a mark that he skated at the Olympics in 2002.

The more I skate the more I believe that bringing that knee forward is crucial to creating pressure, in the corners and the straights (It’s much easier said than done). Check out the obvious compression Kip is getting here.

So what do you do if you have time to kill, and have to skate the best race of your life in a few hours? Just hang out with friends in the stands, as Tucker Fredericks is doing here between races with a Japanese skater.

And history did await him. This has been a breakout year for Tucker, who has won several world cup events, and he was one of the favorites coming into this race. His pair for the final race was Korean Kang–Seok Lee, was the bronze medalist in Torino for the 500m.

They raced neck and neck the whole way, and when the dust/ice chips cleared, Kang had skated a brilliant new 500m world record of 34.25 !!!!!, and Tucker was 3rd overall, in the best finish of his career at a major championship.

Here is what Tucker had to say after his race (quotes courtesy of Irene Postma).

“I saw this black and blue skinsuit fly by me in the last turn. It broke my concentration, but not for very long. I could kind of hear him coming, but I didn’t know he would be past me that fast. He’s a great skater. I am happy with my race. Two 9.5 openers was really good.”

“The strength of Kang-Seok Lee, is that he does something that I wish I could do: He keeps his knees in front of his skates, and still sits back. He is strong and his corners are good. This will stand for a while, there are no races on a fast track next year, I think.”

“I did the best with the situation I found myself in this year. I lost the rest of my team, apart from Chris Needham. They can’t blame US speedsk… well, actually they can. But now the organization is clear, it feels like a family.”

-Tucker Fredericks

And Kang-Seok got to add his name to the wall of Honor at the rink.

Like the men’s 500, The women’s 3k was loaded with talent. The German women have been dominant for years, but recently the Canadian & Dutch have become very successful as well.

Add into this mix the unconventional Czechoslovakian Martina Sablikova who won the European championships in stunning comeback fashion a month ago, and it was going to be interesting.

Several commenters mentioned Sablikova her unique technique. It certainly is odd, but I think I have a pretty clear idea of what she is doing.

What most people see is that she takes as many possible extra crossover steps exiting the turn. I was shooting from about 30 meters down the 100m finishing straight, and here is what she looks like.

You can see that after she exits the turn, and has squared her shoulders, she take 2 more crossover steps before going to the straightaway stroke.

First of all, I don’t think she is doing something all that unusual in the turn exist, Chad Hedrick skates the same exit, curving inward at the end of the final crossover (a banana turn?)

But Sablikova is very light & thin, with extremely long legs. So it seems like she is able to really extend that turn farther than a heavier skater.

I heard she does a lot of summer inline training, focusing on this. Looking at her technique, I see a lot of inline habits (and maybe inline fitness too).

But there is something else she does, that is worth noting, very clearly an inline habit.

First of all, here is one of the powerful Canadian women, check out where she plants her left foot.

If you draw a line from her center of gravity (from her chin down to the ice), the left foot is outside. This is VERY GOOD, as the weight of the skater helps creates push. This is how 99% of us should aspire to skate, and something I work hard on all the time.

Here is Sablikova, starting her race, exiting the first turn, look where that left foot is. (also compare it to the German next to her)

Like many inliners do on wheels, she is reaching with that foot to PULL against the ice, before her foot gets to the point where she can use gravity to PUSH. I think this is a true inline habit. Derek Parra used to do it too. A true double push does not work on the ice, its, impossible, but this is close.

She reaches really far, but still is using the inside edge (slight ankle bend).

This technique does not work at all at sprint velocities. Indeed, Sablikova has an awful sprint. But for lightweight distance specialists, I can see this being useful.

Oh, and did she win? Yes…

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Under the watchful eyes of a worldwide smorgasbord of super-fans-

The world single distance championships began today, with the women’s 1500m and the Men’s 5k.

Oddly enough, somewhat cloudy conditions, high pressure & humid air moved in with a new weather system, and times were slower than expected.

Really it’s not the fastest ice in the world, it’s the fastest air in the world, & today was not a “fast air” day.

The Dutch have something of a “youth revolution” going on, 20 year old Ireen Wust won the 1500m, and 21 year old Sven Kramer won the 5k.

Here is Wust about 100 meters into her race, and then 1350 meters in, note the changes in body position as the burning evils of the 1500m race takes its toll on her.

Here is Catherine Raney, initiating corner pressure most of us can only dream about (and she is just getting the bell for the final lap at this moment).

Kristina Groves of Canada was good for 3rd place on the day. Her skating technique is beautiful, however is the Canadian team skinsuit beautiful or ugly? Inquiring minds want to know!

For the Men’s 5k, there was not much wondering about who would win, the question was, would Sven Kramer set a world record or not?

And he did not, here is Kramer skating, then crossing the finish line, to the deafening silence of the crowd. Weird.

It’s amazing when sports fans make predictions of something like that, when they are not the folks who have to skate 12.5 freakishly fast laps faster than any human ever has before. Then they have the nerve to act all disappointed when it does not happen exactly the way they want.

And these are laps at altitude! Even though skating in the thin air is faster, it can hurt a lot for lowland-dwellers. This Dutch Skater has brought some hometown air with her.

Carl Verheijen in his final 100m, he threw everything into his race. It was good enough for third overall in the 5k, and he threw up shortly after crossing the finish line.

and I missed it!

However here is something I did not miss. Chad Hedrick had some bad luck, he stepped on a cone exiting a turn about halfway through his race (you can see the tail of his right blade catching it here), and crashed. But he got up & kept going. He is a fighter!!

His right knee has been very painful this week. Crashing did not help.

Italian Enrico Fabris gutted out a second place finish in the 5k. Now that Casey Fitzrandolph has retired, Fabris gets my completely subjective vote for the “smoothest skating human being on the planet”.

Casey used to just give me the chills when I would see him really fly, he is far from Utah now, and is a new Dad!!

I leave you with a side view of the Canadian suit (modeled here, at roughly 28mph, by Arne Dankers, on his way to an excellent 4th place).

I just don’t know what to say, I am attracted & repulsed all at once.

(and it goes without saying that I have huge respect for the men & women INSIDE these suits!)

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Remember when the circus would arrive in town, and transform some sleepy field or parking lot into a whirring, buzzing, neon cacophony of elephants, clowns, cotton candy and one huge Ferris wheel soaring up into the night sky?

Well, This coming weekend is the world single distance championships, and the normally peaceful Utah Olympic Oval is suddenly overwhelmed with coaches, trainers, fans, and skaters milling about in multi-colored warm-ups and suits.

Construction crews are everywhere erecting bleachers, TV crews are settling in, buses rush back & forth from hotels, and there is the constant hum of voices.

It feels like the circus is in town, like something special, dangerous, & extraordinary is going to happen in this strange, white building.

Here are some images.

A Korean and Japanese coach watching a Chinese Skater.

The Dutch media finishing an interview with a Dutch Skater. Oddly enough, the fellow in the Germany Jacket is not a German, it’s Gianni Romme, a multiple Olympic medalist for Holland, who now coaches German superstar Anni Friesinger.

Japanese Skaters… WHOOOOSH!! You can get windburn standing on the side of the rink when 3 human beings come whipping past you at extreme velocities.

Chris Needham traveling at warp 9. He skated a Personal Best of 35.1 last week in Calgary, and is poised to join the elite membership of the 34-club. His hard work has paid off this year with some exceptional races, placing him firmly in the top 20 in the world. Check out this knee drive/pressure! yeah…

Even though he won’t be able to hear me, I will be yelling for him every step he takes during this weekends racing.

2 trains worth of Canadians, one of women, one of men.

Why is it that so many European & Asian teams always are in perfectly matching suits/warm-ups-etc, and North Americans often display such a motley assortment of training garb & hats?

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Filed under: from home

Today is John Dimon’s 50th birthday!!!!

Of course he is at work, but will try to bop out of the office early and go skate on the Lake Placid oval, or maybe an XC ski.

If you want to email him congratulations, the best email address these days is info@dimonsports.com, as he has done so much for many people in this sport over the years.

Here is John this past December, in his natural habitat, late at night! rocking skates!

And it’s worth re-publishing, one of my favorite photos of John; here he is, a quarter of a century ago, as a scary fast biathlete. (for a crazy story about that time in is life, click here and he got into XC skiing as cross-training for motocross!)

Many people don’t know that he was one of the top 15 biathletes in the USA, and the year he was truly flying was an Olympic year!!!

One week before Olympic trials in January of 1984 he hit a rut skiing, and found out that he had no cartilage left in his right ankle!!!

It was an extremely painful discovery for him, on many levels.

Maybe one of the reasons he has been so successful in the speedskating business is his dual knowledge of how to suffer, and how to speak to the hearts & minds of those who dream.

Here he is skating a 3k past a snowman, on the Placid oval in the late 90’s (Viking Skeeler boots & Darkstar blades, powered by one 100% pure Cortland N.Y., Italian-American bad boy!!!)

Happy Birthday, dear friend…

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Filed under: from home

I am 72, I have only been speedskating 6 years, here is my secret; I train with 14-15-16 year olds. They keep me young.

-Arne Kjell Foldvik

I met the magnetic Arne in Hamar last year, He had quite a fight on his hands in Calgary, but he won his third consecutive championship in the men’s 70-74 category.

Here he is, charging down the finish of a 3k he won by only .1 of a second, celebrating afterwards, and on the podium with Russian Ramir Kuramshin & Nederland skater Ludwig Meijering during the MASSIVE party & awards ceremony later that evening.

semi-complete results from the world masters championships are available in 2 places right now, an easily browsable over view is at DESG Weltmeisterschaft Master 2007

and there are .pdfs of individual race results at the Calgary Oval website.

back to the racing:

Here are 2 of the good men who make Masters speedskating happen, both in their own countries and as representatives to the IMSSC, Sven-Åge Svensson of Norway and Bram de Vries of the Netherlands. This is Bram’s 8th trip to Master’s worlds, Sven-Age’s 7th!!!

Silvia Tassara, the vibrant, energetic sparkplug of the Italian team. As my wife Jessica says in a comment she left on the day 1 results: Un gran shout-out a tutti miei amici Italiani li in Calgary. Ale ale ale, dai dai dai! Forza!

Sometimes that boundary line between pain & joy merges into a delicious elixir that once you have tasted it, can become a driving force in your life. Here are two Dutch women, holding each other up after scary fast 1500’s, looking at the scoreboard, and accepting cheers from the crowd.

Both Kathie Zapaticki and Karri Cox came to masters worlds with the goal of qualifying for the final distance (only half of each group gets to skate the longest race). Both succeeded, and pulled off fantastic 3k’s. They are in different age groups, and both of them had a moment of seeing their name at the top of the strong leader board as the final 4 skaters went to the start.

American Mary Lou Nicola & Latvian Lasma Kumiste on the track, and on the awards stand after.

Lasma requested the microphone, and here is what she had to say (she makes a joke here about her spinning-sliding 500m finish line crash):

Thanks you very much, all of you, because I am at first time in Canada, and at first time on this fast ice, I think it’s one of the fastest ice rinks in the world.

And I am very happy that I was first to find a new sport event! it is in 500 meters; 450 meters skating and 50 meters swimming!!! I thought that it will be a new world record in my age group! Skating and swimming!

And I would like to say lot of good words to the referees, to the organizing committee, to the Zamboni drivers, all the volunteers!!

And I am most happy that we are together again, its once of the year only, and I know and I think that it’s not so important for us to win and to receive medals, but for me it is now, it’s more important that I have some good society with all of you.

THE PARTY AFTERWARDS WAS HUGE!!!! At least 400+ people. I have discovered a new pleasure in life, drinking with Italians!!! Here I am, holding my 4th glass of cheap wine, with one of the central organizers of the Masters Speed Skating Italia, good guy Paolo Gemme. Instead of traditional medals, they gave participants bolo ties with the arty race logo, I am wearing mine here.

After sweeping their age group, these 3 Dutch ladies showed up on the awards stand wearing new cowboy hats!! I think the pink one is quite wonderful in it’s own warped way.

Winners of the super-intense men’s 40-44 category
Candian Benoît Lamarche, stands between two dutch skaters, Jan Duif & Rene van Hofslot. All 3 wearing their medals/bolo ties.

The men’s 45-49 category:
Norwegian Jon Arthur Olafsen is flanked by Canadian Pat Kelly and Norwegian, Morten Henriksen

The collected champions, from all over the world, click on the image for a larger version.

The head of the IMSSC, and a man without whom this event would certainly not exist, is Dr. Volker Serini of Germany, he donned a Cowboy hat for his final closing remarks.

Many Americans visiting Europe want to experience the things we don’t have here; Things like medieval castles, roman aqueducts, sexually un-stuffy societies, etc, etc..

When the Euros come here, they want to do the “western thing”. I can now die happy, I have seen hundreds of older Europeans cowboy line dancing! This talented bunch of athletes was really good at it too!

There are legendary stories about a party after the masters world championships several years ago in Baselga di Pinè, involving Russians with accordions, vodka, and a bar in the middle of a frozen lake. I think this party will remain on many people’s minds for a long time.

Who knows what my own future will bring, but I would love to race this event again, because of the people & vibe, even if that means I have to skate another 3k & 5k…

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Filed under: RACE DAY, on the road