Press Release
Short track has come a long way since the '90s; But it's still a quirky cross between roller derby and NASCAR
The Vancouver Province
Sun 26 Oct 2008
Page: A81
Section: Sports
Byline: Ed Willes
Column: Ed Willes
Source: The Province
It says something about his sport but, at the ripe old age of 28, Francois-Louis Tremblay can look back at the evolution of short track speed skating the way Walter Hagen could look back at the evolution of professional golf.
When Tremblay first started way back in the late '90s, for example, skate blades were crudely welded to the boot in one piece. Imagine.
Training methods and race strategies, in comparison to today's standards, were also from another planet. And don't get him started about the remarkable acceleration in times.
"I used to win the 500 in 41.9," says Tremblay, the three-time Olympic medallist from Alma, Que. "Now that would barely make the semifinals. Last week [at World Cup races in Salt Lake City], the winning time was 41.2. That was unthinkable five years ago."
So it's a given that short track, which premiered as an Olympic medal event in 1992, has come a long way in its brief history. But for this sport, the more interesting question is where does it go from here because, after its promising start, it has yet to move beyond the niche it carved out when Tremblay first started.
"I've seen pretty well all the ages of short track," says Tremblay. "It used to be a second-hand sport. Then we became a really important sport in Canada."
That's, at least, the story in Canada. But it's how short track plays to the rest of the world which will determine its future.
In its initial exposure to the home of the 2010 Games, short track has offered an interesting representation of everything it is and everything it's not this weekend at the ISU World Cup event.
The show, which drew a sparse gathering of 2,718 Saturday, is endlessly entertaining, compressing the speed and grace of long track into a race that looks like a cross between roller derby and NASCAR. There's also an element of officiating that is completely incomprehensible to everyone but the sport's stewards, which only adds to the fun.
In the men's 1,000-metre final, for example, Apolo Anton Ohno, the sport's poster boy, swapped paint with Canadian Charles Hamelin and South Korea's Yoon-Gy Kwok over the nine laps before Hamelin took the gold with a dramatic move in the last lap.
Ohno, for his part, was disqualified, well, because somebody has to be.
"I got hit twice," said an obliging Ohno afterwards. "I had the right of way because I had the lead and Charles kind of hit me twice. I thought for sure he was going to be disqualified."
So why was he DQ'd?
"I have no idea," Ohno said.
Still, the World Cup has also revealed something about the challenge facing short track heading toward 2010 because the sport is essentially an ongoing Four Nations Cup, with Canada, the U.S. and China chasing the juggernaut from Korea.
On Saturday, the four countries accounted for all 12 medals in the four finals with the Koreans winning five medals. Last week in Salt Lake City, the Koreans took home six golds and 13 medals in the 10 events. And, in Turin, Korea won 10 medals, including six golds.
Now, those results speak for themselves and the Koreans don't have to apologize for setting the standard for the rest of the world. But their dominance also makes it hard to sell the sport in North America and Europe and the Koreans' remoteness doesn't make things any easier.
"I think this sport is amazing," said Ohno, a Seattle-area native. "It's got everything people love about performance and extreme sports. Hopefully we can get more people out to watch."
And hopefully, they'll keep watching.
Short track has come a long way since the '90s; But it's still a quirky cross between roller derby and NASCAR
The Vancouver Province
Sun 26 Oct 2008
Page: A81
Section: Sports
Byline: Ed Willes
Column: Ed Willes
Source: The Province
It says something about his sport but, at the ripe old age of 28, Francois-Louis Tremblay can look back at the evolution of short track speed skating the way Walter Hagen could look back at the evolution of professional golf.
When Tremblay first started way back in the late '90s, for example, skate blades were crudely welded to the boot in one piece. Imagine.
Training methods and race strategies, in comparison to today's standards, were also from another planet. And don't get him started about the remarkable acceleration in times.
"I used to win the 500 in 41.9," says Tremblay, the three-time Olympic medallist from Alma, Que. "Now that would barely make the semifinals. Last week [at World Cup races in Salt Lake City], the winning time was 41.2. That was unthinkable five years ago."
So it's a given that short track, which premiered as an Olympic medal event in 1992, has come a long way in its brief history. But for this sport, the more interesting question is where does it go from here because, after its promising start, it has yet to move beyond the niche it carved out when Tremblay first started.
"I've seen pretty well all the ages of short track," says Tremblay. "It used to be a second-hand sport. Then we became a really important sport in Canada."
That's, at least, the story in Canada. But it's how short track plays to the rest of the world which will determine its future.
In its initial exposure to the home of the 2010 Games, short track has offered an interesting representation of everything it is and everything it's not this weekend at the ISU World Cup event.
The show, which drew a sparse gathering of 2,718 Saturday, is endlessly entertaining, compressing the speed and grace of long track into a race that looks like a cross between roller derby and NASCAR. There's also an element of officiating that is completely incomprehensible to everyone but the sport's stewards, which only adds to the fun.
In the men's 1,000-metre final, for example, Apolo Anton Ohno, the sport's poster boy, swapped paint with Canadian Charles Hamelin and South Korea's Yoon-Gy Kwok over the nine laps before Hamelin took the gold with a dramatic move in the last lap.
Ohno, for his part, was disqualified, well, because somebody has to be.
"I got hit twice," said an obliging Ohno afterwards. "I had the right of way because I had the lead and Charles kind of hit me twice. I thought for sure he was going to be disqualified."
So why was he DQ'd?
"I have no idea," Ohno said.
Still, the World Cup has also revealed something about the challenge facing short track heading toward 2010 because the sport is essentially an ongoing Four Nations Cup, with Canada, the U.S. and China chasing the juggernaut from Korea.
On Saturday, the four countries accounted for all 12 medals in the four finals with the Koreans winning five medals. Last week in Salt Lake City, the Koreans took home six golds and 13 medals in the 10 events. And, in Turin, Korea won 10 medals, including six golds.
Now, those results speak for themselves and the Koreans don't have to apologize for setting the standard for the rest of the world. But their dominance also makes it hard to sell the sport in North America and Europe and the Koreans' remoteness doesn't make things any easier.
"I think this sport is amazing," said Ohno, a Seattle-area native. "It's got everything people love about performance and extreme sports. Hopefully we can get more people out to watch."
And hopefully, they'll keep watching.