Sunday, November 25, 2001
Cat turns fastest 400m lap
By CAMERON MAXWELL -- Calgary Sun
Just when you think Canadian speed skating queen Catriona Le May Doan has done it all, she takes it to another level.
Le May Doan, the current 500m world record holder and defending 500m Olympic gold medallist, is now the fastest woman to ever skate a long-track lap.
Yesterday at the Can-Am International at the Olympic Oval, Le May Doan blistered through the first 400m of her 500m race in 27.04 seconds, the best-ever clocking by a female, as she won the sprint ladies event with a time of 37.38 -- just a tenth of a second off her world record time of 37.29.
And when you ask the 29-year-old why she keeps going given all the accolades she's garnered over her illustrious career, Le May Doan pauses for a few seconds, then answers.
"Stubbornness," she laughs, and goes on to elaborate.
"It's not that I haven't accomplished what I set out to accomplish.
"I mean, if something happened tomorrow and I couldn't skate, I'd be OK with that and be satisfied."
But the globe's fastest female skater, who has lowered the world record five times, knows she can be better and raise the bar yet again.
"I've seen what I can do in training, and in speed skating, especially in the 500, it's hard to bring that level in training to the competition," she said.
To illustrate her point, Le May Doan uses a golf analogy.
"When you play golf, you want to get up there and hit the ball as hard as you can but if you do, you never hit it good. If you go up and just try to hit it properly and not swing as hard, it'll go farther."
Trying to translate her training results into competition is probably the only thing Le May Doan needs to work on, said her coach.
"She's skating pretty well right now," says Sean Ireland, who has coached Le May Doan for the past three years.
"For her, the biggest thing is it's a matter of converting her practise performance into races ... which is a matter of making sure you're relaxed."
If Le May Doan can put it all together for Salt Lake City, which is her goal, the rest of the world is in big trouble.
It will be her last Olympics but Le May Doan said she would skate another year so she could end her career by skating the ISU world sprint championship in Calgary in January 2003 and finish in Berlin, Germany in March.
Meanwhile, Canadian national team member Patrick Bouchard took the men's 500m sprint yesterday in a time of 35.14 seconds, beating Russian Dmitry Lobkov (35.35) and Manubu Horii of Japan, who tied Lobokov's time.
Bouchard's clocking was just under his personal best of 35.10 and he said he's feeling very good about his skating, even though it's early in the season.
"I was going super fast in Ste-Foy, Que., where I broke the track record in the 1,000 metres but I wasn't that fast in the 500 here (on Friday), so I promised myself I'd go faster (yesterday), which I did, so I'm very happy,"said Bouchard, who lives in Cap-Rouge, Que.
Like all Canadian team members, Bouchard is looking for a shot at the Olympics, which would be his third.
He said he's gearing up for team trials in Calgary next month.
In the ladies 1,000m sprint, Japan's Aki Tonoike was first (1:15.79) as Japanese women took the top three positions.
She was followed by Sayuri Osuga and Eriko Sanmiya, who was third.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
