SKATING ALONG
Olympian Peter Michael talks roller sport, cold and speed
Growing up in a town with no iceskating rink and disliking cold weather makes Peter Michael unique among ice speed skaters. Shaun Eade finds out how the man with one of the most glorious mullets in sport ended up getting so close to a pair of Winter Olympic medals.
For two weeks, Peter Michael received the attention a perennial world champion deserves. Battling to break New Zealand’s Winter Olympic medal drought, the ice speed skater from Palmerston North was suddenly the topic of water-cooler discussions in workplaces across the country.
For many, it was the first they had heard of the 28-year-old, despite an illustrious inline skating career featuring eight world titles.
Michael captured the attention of sports fans nationwide as he twice came agonisingly close to standing on the Olympic podium.
Those less interested in his sporting exploits, had his hair style – a mullet to make Billy Ray Cyrus jealous – to discuss.
He missed the medal he so deeply desired, but at the same time thrust his sport into the limelight – a valuable achievement in the battle for sponsorship dollars.
Fast forward two weeks and it is clear how quickly the hype can dissipate.
Stripped out in his gear for his German professional inline skating team, the Olympian glided around the Manawatu¯ Skating Club’s track to little fanfare outside of those already signed on to the skating club.
It is a slice of normality in what has been a very abnormal period.
His return to Palmerston North was a fitting link back to his roots and his career’s humble beginnings.
The club was where he first discovered the joy of speed skating. Although, it took his mother taking a wrong turn for that to happen.
That was when he was 7 years old and he had decided he wanted to try his hand at inline hockey.
His mother dropped him off at Bell Hall in Palmerston North, he strapped on his skates and got out on the rink.
But halfway through the session, he noticed something was strange.
‘‘It was about 45 minutes in when I asked them for a hockey stick and found out it was speed skating,’’ he said.
He was in the wrong hall, but he was not upset.
That 45 minutes of speed skating had given him the rush that he was after.
‘‘I was pretty much hooked from there and I knew that would be me. It was too good to let go.’’
He never got round to picking up a hockey stick, instead he was out to satisfy his need for speed.
And there were plenty of likeminded people around him – none more so than the Dobbin brothers Shane and Kalon, 10 and 12 years his senior, respectively.
By the time Michael turned up, the duo were the club’s stars, having come along leaps and bounds since they were recruited by a member who watched them skate between the pumps at their parent’s petrol station. The Dobbin boys were in the process of carving out a career in skating, one that Michael would go on to follow.
He was inspired. When he was 8 years old, Michael proclaimed to his parents that he wanted to be a world champion.
He dominated the junior grades and cared little that schoolmates mocked him for the lycra uniform that came with his sport.
‘‘I got to the point where I didn’t care what they thought. I was travelling the world and winning,’’ Michael told Stuff in 2011.
That was the year that he achieved his dream by claiming gold in the men’s 15,000-metre elimination race at the World Roller Speed Skating Championships in Yeosu City, South Korea.
It was the first of eight world inline titles so far.
At the same meet he won silver in the relay alongside Kalon Dobbin, the man he now calls his coach.
Kalon’s brother had just started investigating a shift to ice skating.
But Michael was not so keen, proclaiming ‘‘I don’t like the cold’’.
Regardless, he watched on as his mate pulled on the silver fern at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
It was enough to convince him to reconsider his stance.
‘‘There was an opportunity for me to try it the summer after [Shane competed at the Olympics]. I was not overly keen to try it because it was just a different style. But after [giving it a go], I was quite excited about it for the winter. Then, I was hooked.’’
With Kalon Dobbin taking on responsibility for coaching Michael in both forms of skating, his transition from wheels to blades was seamless.
He juggled both, but the ice and its Olympic carrot took priority.
By 2017, the hard work was starting to come to fruition.
A bronze in the individual 5000m and silver in the team pursuit at the World Speed Skating Championships proved his potential.
It was also enough to lock in his Olympic spot alongside training partners Shane Dobbin and Reyon Kay.
In February, Michael and the rest of the Kiwi team touched down in Pyeongchang for the Winter Olympics.
The worldwide attention the Olympics receives makes it a unique experience, says Kalon Dobbin.
‘‘Anything that has the Olympic rings on them, it changes the whole feeling,’’ he says.
‘‘[Walking through the media mixed zone] is when you realise that it is the whole world watching, not just someone that is into speed skating. The other three years it is just the hardcore speed skating ice countries that watch it.’’
But Michael says he did not feel like there was any more pressure than other events.
His impressive run in the 5000m, which ultimately saw him finish fourth, commanded attention.
In his less-favoured 1500m and the mass start, he was 14th and 15th, respectively.
Then there was the focus of the Kiwi team’s campaign, the team pursuit.
For Michael, it was the second time in the same meet that he missed a medal by a sole place, the team also finishing fourth.
‘‘It is quite tough,’’ he says. ‘‘I am happy because it could have been worse. But I am still gutted that I didn’t get that medal. We tried really hard for it.’’
The memory of that pair of fourth-places will serve as a constant motivator for the years ahead.
‘‘It definitely did not put me off or anything or make me want to quit. It has given me more drive to push harder for the next four years.’’
Coach Dobbin has no doubt that Michael will one day feature on the podium.
‘‘Pete is going to win medals at the games, that is for sure.’’
But, a desire to succeed on the ice will not prevent him from following his inline skating passion either.
‘‘This year we were fortunate that the world championships are earlier, they are in July. So I am able to put some focus on it from now until then.’’
After that, it will be all about the ice.
And fans of his trademark mullet can rest assured, it is not going anywhere.
‘‘[It is] built for speed, but obviously not quite enough. I will have to perfect it a little bit more for the next one.’’
‘‘I got to the point where I didn’t care what they thought. I was travelling the world and winning.’’ Peter Michael on schoolmates mocked him for the lycra uniform that came with his sport