Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Speed-skating records certain to shatter
By ERIC FRANCIS -- Calgary Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- It appears Calgary's Olympic Oval is about to give up its reign as host of the world's fastest ice.
And that's good news for Canadian medal favourites such as Catriona Le May Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon.
Speed skaters and coaches preparing at the Utah Oval yesterday for the Olympics are convinced many of the world records set in Calgary will fall over the next two weeks.
In fact, Dutch coach Geert Kuiper went as far as to suggest world records will be established in all 10 events during these games.
"Oh yeah, it's going to be all the world records," agreed Marianne Timmer, who captured two gold medals for the Netherlands in Nagano.
American medal hopeful Casey Fitzrandolph, who has trained with the Canadian team at Calgary's oval the last four years, agreed after yesterday's practice that many records will be established.
"You better believe it," he beamed.
Canadian speed skaters were expected to arrive here last night and will practice on the oval today.
Calgary oval GM Jacques Thibault agreed the Utah Oval has indeed improved on Calgary's world-class ice.
"That's a fact," said Thibault, whose oval can still lay claim to the majority of world record times.
"I can guarantee if it's not all 10 records that fall, it will be very close. We knew that. But that doesn't mean we can't get those records back in the next five years if we make renovations."
Thibault says his oval is in need of several upgrades and renovations that have been shelved to allow Canada's strong long track speed skaters to prepare for the Olympics.
Former Canadian Olympian and Mount Royal College grad Cathy Priestner-Allinger is the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's director of sport and says her focus the last few years has been to ensure facilities such as the oval are the world's best.
"For the oval, we were putting our resources and our dollars in many cases into making fast ice -- it's very important for that sport," said Priestner-Allinger, an Olympic silver medal-winning speed skater who carried the torch into McMahon Stadium to open the Calgary Games in 1988.
"Nine world records have been set at the Utah Oval in the last year with two more unofficial records pending."
One of those includes a new mark in the 3,000-metre race set by Gianni Romme, who skated 2.73 seconds faster than anyone has. However, it was an unofficial competition.
Contributing to the record-breaking performances is the venue's altitude of 1,425 metres, making it the highest enclosed oval in the world -- more than 300 metres higher than Calgary's oval.
Thinner air and elevation translate into faster times as has the revolutionary clap skates. New aerodynamic body suits to be worn during the games should also have an impact.
"Obviously, Calgary has been the fastest rink in the world for quite a while and we've certainly challenged them for the title," said former Olympian Nick Thometz, SLOC's sport manager for speed skating who hired Calgary oval ice guru Mark Messer as a consultant for the Games.
"Our ice is similar but every ice has a little different feel. For Catriona and Jeremy, this kind of ice works well -- hard but not too brittle. They're good skaters and they glide well. I think we're as good as Calgary and maybe right now we're a little faster. We expect we're going to have world records but how many is always hard to determine."
The fact any world records are expected to fall is great news for Thometz, who watched as 33 miles of pipe and the entire concrete base of the rink had to be ripped out and replaced a year ago when it was improperly constructed.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
