A bold prediction from Sportsnet’s crackerjack Olympic research team: Canada flags will be raised to the rafters and “O Canada” belted out more than once at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi come February.
The Palace – and it is quite nice, worthy of such a name – will play host to both Olympic figure skating and short track speed skating. A look at some of the Canadian gold medal hopefuls set to lace up the figure and speed skates there: three-time world champion and quad jump specialist Patrick Chan (@PChiddy), Olympic 500m champion Charles Hamelin (@speedskater01), reigning gold medal ice dance duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and two-time Olympic silver medallist Marianne St-Gelais (@mastgelais). So, it’s safe to say we’ll be taking in a lot of action at the Palace.
Let’s check out the venue. Located in the heart of Olympic Park, it seats 12,000 and was designed to look like a massive block of ice. Mission accomplished. More than 15,000 tons of metal and 600 tons of glass were used in the Palace’s construction. Because it’s hosting speed skating (requires pretty hard ice) and figure skating (softer ice), the venue is home to a unique cooling system that can change temperatures within two hours to suit both competitions.
The Palace is moveable, and initially the plan was to transfer it to another Russian city and maintain it as a rink. But recently there’s been discussion it could stay in Sochi and be used as a training base for the Russian cycling team.
A year out from the Games it played host to an ISU Short Track World Cup. Hamelin, who cleaned up at the third world cup of the season this past weekend won double gold at the Palace in the 500m and 1,000m.
So, maybe that prediction we made off the top wasn’t so bold after all.