Speedskaters feeling blue ahead of Olympics

Several countries switching colour of their suits despite no evidence it is faster colour

STAVANGER, NORWAY— Olympic-calibre speedskaters sometimes race for more than 10 kilometres and gold medals can be determined by hundredths of a second. Countries that take the sport seriously have looked for every possible scientific advantage, from the composition of the hinge that connects the skate blade to the boot to the aerodynamics of hoods on racing suits.

In the months leading up to the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, some of the sport’s biggest powers seem to be under the sway of a new and far less scientifically rigorous belief about their equipment: Blue is the fastest colour.

Speedskating fans and competitors were bemused recently when skaters from three countries — Germany, Norway and South Korea — showed up to the first World Cup event of the season wearing new uniforms in a suspiciously similar shade of blue. South Korea has historically worn blue. Germany and Norway have not.

The attire was particularly jarring for Norway, whose long history of speedskating prowess has been attained in red — always in red. Norway has won 80 speedskating medals at the Olympics, behind only the 105 won by the Netherlands.

It was as if the Yankees had showed up at the baseball playoffs in polka dots rather than pinstripes.

“The Norwegians’ whole history is with the legendary red suits,” said Hein Otterspeer, a sprint specialist from the Netherlands. “People are saying now the blue colour is faster than any other colour. That’s a bit of a strange theory, but maybe they tested it, and it went better than the red suit.”

With any new piece of equipment there is an assumption that it has been tested, tested again and tested some more.

At ice rinks, laboratories and wind tunnels around the world, the top countries are engaged in a hushhush arms race, a different sort of cold war.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics was involved in the development of the racing suits worn by the United States at the last Winter Games.

Every so often, there are revolutionary innovations in materials, design or construction.

But the notion that certain colours could be faster than others? Some skaters found it preposterous. Others accepted it. Many were just confused.

“They said it skates a little faster than red, so I like to believe that,” Hege Bokko, a Norwegian skater, said after stepping off the ice last month in the team’s new blue suit. But what does that mean, exactly? “I have no clue,” she said, smiling. “The Koreans and Germans are also skating in blue, so maybe it’s something.”

Never mind the fancy scientists who scratched their heads at the premise.

In a fireside interview at the rink, Havard Myklebust, the sports scientist leading Norway’s secret suit development effort, seemed amused at the attention the uniforms had garnered over the past few weeks. He hinted that overeager Norwegian journalists might have played a role in the proliferation of this new colour theory.