By Sakura Murakami
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Gao Tingyu set the eighth speed skating Olympic record at the Beijing Games on Saturday as he glided past the finish line at the ‘Ice Ribbon’ under Canadian ice maker Mark Messer’s watchful eyes.
The National Speed Skating Oval also saw a world record https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/speed-skating-van-der-poel-wins-gold-mens-10000m-breaks-world-record-2022-02-11 in the men’s 10,000m on Friday, with the new marks being set despite the venue being at a lower altitude than the likes of Calgary and Salt Lake City, where the thinner air provides less resistance for skaters.
“For us at sea level, to compare our times to somebody at high altitude is very difficult,” Messer told Reuters.
“The air is much thinner. The resistance is a big piece of the puzzle so we can look at the times, and if they’re set in Salt Lake or Calgary, we don’t expect to have that time.”
But in Beijing, Irene Schouten https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/speed-skating-dutchwoman-schouten-wins-gold-womens-5000m-2022-02-10 and Kjeld Nuis https://www.reuters.com/article/olympics-2022-speedskating-idCNL1N2UJ052 of the Netherlands both broke Olympic records set in Salt Lake City that had been untouched for two decades.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re quite proud of those. Those are 20-year records that were set at a high altitude. If we can hit those times then we know we’ve got something magical happening,” added the softspoken 61-year-old.
Making fast ice in a newly-built, low altitude rink during a pandemic was no easy task. With limited travel opportunities and unfamiliar technology, Messer had to feel his way through the process just a week before races started at his sixth Olympics.
“If we had more time before the Games we would have had done it earlier but we did not have that … we could only finetune it (as the skaters arrived),” he said at his hotel in Beijing.
“We had a small test event with some good skaters but not enough people to really give us a true reading of how the ice would be.”
Some skaters found the ice too soft https://www.reuters.com/article/olympics-2022-speedskating-ice-idCNL1N2UE0GA after their initial training sessions at the oval, with one describing the surface as “soft and crunchy”, although they did add that it was getting better as the days went on.
“It’s unfortunate for the skaters because they can feel the difference of the ice changing,” Messer said.
IT’S THE SKATERS
Ice surfaces are made by layering purified water onto a concrete floor cooled to minus seven degrees until it freezes over to a thickness of some 2.5 centimetres.
At the Ice Ribbon, which is the only new venue for this Winter Games, a CO2 gas is being used as the refrigerant instead of the typical liquid freon – a first for an Olympics.
“It’s a much different system than in the past. It reacts very differently, and we’re finding a lot of great things with the CO2,” he said. “It’s great for the environment for a start, so that’s great, but it’s very responsive.”
For Messer, the Beijing Olympics will be one to remember for the unique challenges it threw at him. And despite the records tumbling, he was reluctant to take any credit for the skaters’ successes.
“What we want to do is, we want to create a surface so that the skaters can do the best and the best skater that day wins,” he said.
“So the Olympic records – yes we’re very proud of the Olympic records, we know we’re doing some good work, but ultimately, it’s the skaters.”
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
