ON SKATES OR ON WHEELS, DE HAITRE’S HARD TO CATCH
Athlese shifts from cycling to speedskating with a medal at PyeongChang within reach
Looking back, speedskater Vincent De Haitre figures he was a well-behaved lad — outside, perhaps, of riding his bike too fast a time or two in the Ottawa suburb of Cumberland.
But the Canadian Olympian distinctly remembers losing his mind in kindergarten when he forgot to pack skates on an otherwise routine trip to the local arena.
“I was just the most upset child ever that I couldn’t get on the ice,” De Haitre says. “I was such a hard case to deal with, they eventually let me on the ice in my boots so I could just run around. I wasn’t the type of kid to throw tantrums, but that was the one thing I was super passionate about.”
Flash forward 17 years and that passion burns just as brightly today with De Haitre one of three Canadians taking part in this weekend’s ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships in Calgary (also on the Canadian team are Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., and Winnipeg’s Heather McLean).
De Haitre is also a world-class track cyclist, having represented Canada at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. He has designs on becoming the next Clara Hughes by competing in both sports at the Olympics. A lofty goal? Absolutely. But De Haitre is one of those ridiculously talented athletes with the potential to win at both the Winter and Summer Games.
“It’s lucky for us that he’s chosen to focus on speedskating, but I think he might shift to cycling for a couple years after these Olympics,” speedskating coach Bart Schouten says.
“I think he’ll be great in cycling, too. Vince has got the right body — with the legs and the butt — to be a really good speedskater. He’s very strong but very smart and very composed for a 22-year-old.”
Some of that composure comes from De Haitre’s early exposure to the highest level of speedskating.
He carries himself with confidence beyond his years, much like an NHL player who cracked the big leagues straight out of junior. Much to his own surprise, De Haitre earned a spot on the Canadian Olympic team at age 18, competing alongside stars such as Denny Morrison, Sven Kramer and Ireen Wust. His results at the 2014 Sochi Games were unspectacular, with a 20thplace finish in the 1,000 metres and 33rd in the 1,500 metres, but De Haitre looked at the experience as a crash course in how to succeed in speedskating.
Building on those lessons, he won bronze at the World Cup final in 2015 and then captured his first World Cup gold at a 2016 stop in Kazakhstan.
De Haitre cemented his status as a legitimate Olympic medal contender for 2018 with a silver medal at the 2017 world championships in the 1,000 metres. He also finished fourth at the world championships in the 1,500 metres, signalling his podium potential in multiple events.
Calgary might be the epicentre of long-track speedskating in Canada, but both De Haitre and 2016 world champion Ivanie Blondin are products of the Gloucester Concordes in east Ottawa.
“I saw Ivanie on the ice in her Canada colours and it gave me a good sense of what it takes and how good you need to be to achieve certain goals,” De Haitre said. “But with our age difference, it was kind of hard to be friends. No 16-year-old girl wants to have a 12-year-old friend.”
These days, De Haitre and Blondin are not only friends, they’re two of Canada’s top medal contenders for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
The next step for De Haitre comes Saturday and Sunday at the Olympic Oval, where he will toe the line in two 500-metre races and two 1,000-metre races.
It’s lucky for us that he’s chosen to focus on speedskating … He’s very strong but very smart and very composed for a 22-year-old.