BY ROBERT MURRAY – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
Since 2010, each discipline in the Winter Olympic program has undergone significant change. With less than one year to go until the 2014 Games, I’ll be taking a look at what to expect from Canada and the rest of the world in Sochi. Today I take a look at long track speed skating.
What happened in 2010?: Dutch skater and long distance specialist Sven Kramer won his first Olympic Gold medal and added a bronze in the Team Pursuit. Had he not been disqualified in the 10,000 metre race, he would have won his second Gold medal and broken the Olympic record. South Korea had their coming out party in the sprint distances with Mo Tae-Bum winning the Gold for the men and Lee Sang-Hwa winning Gold for the women. Martina Sáblíková was crowned a double Olympic champion in the 3,000 and 5,000 metre races. Christine Nesbitt won Gold in the 1,000 metre by two hundredths of a second and the men’s Team Pursuit won Gold over the United States in dramatic fashion.
What has changed?: Not much surprisingly. Whether the rest of the world likes it or not, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States are the superpowers in this sport and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Ireen Wüst, Christine Nesbitt and Czech skater Martina Sáblíková are the cream of the crop. They have butted heads at two Olympic Games and countless World Cups and World Championship races. Both are in the prime of their career heading into Sochi. Barring serious injury, fans will be treated to a spectacle in 2014. On the Men’s side, the battle continues to be waged between Håvard Bøkko of Norway and Sven Kramer of the Netherlands. What’s so interesting about Bøkko is how he competes in all distances. Instead of specializing in the sprint or long distances, he has sat on the podium at the World Championships in every distance except the Team Pursuit. He won his first Olympic medal, a bronze in the 1500 metre in Vancouver. Adding more medals in Sochi will make him forget about his four top five finishes in Olympic races that yielded no medals.
What Canadians should I watch?: Christine Nesbitt. Saying she’s been great since Vancouver would be an understatement. The Aussie-born, Canadian-raised skater had a ridiculous season in 2011/2012. Stop me if I start rambling. In that season, she won: Nine World Cup victories, ranked first in the world at the 1,000 metre, 1,500 metre and Team Pursuit, two Gold medals at the World Single Distance Championship, four Canadian Single Distance titles. Need I say more? Long track speed skating wasn’t the first choice for Gilmore Junio. The former short track skater made the switch to the long track after suffering compression fractures in two of his vertebrae. The Calgary resident, who goes by aptly titled “@cdnhappygilmore” handle on Twitter, isn’t a dominant force yet but if his history says anything about him, he’s got the motivation and drive to make the podium in Sochi.
Who could spoil the show?: For the Men, Belgium would love nothing more than to steal an Olympic Gold medal away from their Dutch neighbours. If Bart Swings has his way, that’ll happen in Sochi. At the recent World Allround Championships, he won Silver in the 10000 metre and a triple set of Bronze in the 1500 metre, 5000 metre and the Overall standings. It may seem like I’m taking the easy way out picking two Dutch skaters but if someone is going to unseat Wüst, Nesbitt or Sáblíková, it’s going to come from the home of the sport. Diane Valkenburg and Linda de Vries weren’t able to gain the upper hand on Wüst but they’ve been following closely behind, collecting five medals at the recent World Allround Championships. If you had to place your money on the home town favourite look no further than Yekaterina Shikhova. The Russian grew up a thirty-hour drive from Sochi and has collected thirteen World Cup podiums over her career. She has also amassed seven top-5 results in four different distances at both sets of World Championship races.