U.S speedskaters aim to avoid Sochi repeat
In 2014, problems with training, high-tech skin suits led to debacle.
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA —
Perhaps no team has more to prove at the Pyeongchang Olym
pics than the U.S. speedskaters. Limited to one medal four years ago, they are eager to bounce
back and show why their sport has produced the most medals for the U.S. in the Winter Games.
Going 0 for 12 in long track and 1 for 8 in short track in Sochi was a “disaster,” long track skater
Mitch Whitmore said.
It’s certainly a memory the Americans haven’t forgotten, either.
“The thought is definitely in the back of my mind: You don’t want that to happen again,” Brittany Bowe said. “You just have to bring it back to, ‘Have I done everything I can to prepare myself the best way I can?’ I can answer that, yes.”
That’squite achange from 2014, when the Americans debuted a high-tech skin suit they thought would lead to more gold, silver
and bronze.
Instead, it was an unqualified failure. Skaters complained the suit was too tight, and they were
stuck dealing with sizing issues on the day of their races. To compound their woes, the Americans trained outdoors at altitude leading up to the Games when the venue in Sochi was indoors at sea level.
“The team morale was really weird,” Joey Mantia said. “There was just a weird vibe in the village among our team.”
This time, things are completely different.
“Basically, our entire staff handed us all the tools we need to get medals,” said Mantia, a favorite for gold in the mass start event. “It’s just up to us now. There’s no more blaming it on anyone else.” Last year, traveled to the Gangneung Oval, where they will race this week, and measured ice temperature and thickness air conditions. They took that information back home and used it to reproduce those conditions at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, where long track Olympic trials and a pre-Olympic camp were held. “We felt this was best strategy to ensure we have peak performance at the right time,” said Shane Domer, sports science director for US Speedskating. They will find out starttoday when long track begins with the women’s 3,000 meters. Short track starts with the 1,500meter final, along with qualifying in events. The U.S. team isn’t totally has ing and the Americans other the the men’s free of distraction, however. Five-time Olympian Shani Davis tweeted that process in which luger Erin Hamlin beat him out in a coin flip as the U.S. flag bearer for Friday’s opening ceremony was handled “dishonorably.” The final vote by their fellow athletes ended in a 4-4 tie, leading to flip. Davis’ tweet included a mention of Black History Month, raising the question of whether he thought race played a role in the decision. Davis is black, Hamlin is white. Davis talk with reporters Friday. While attention was diverted by the tweet, the rest of the U.S. team practiced in skin suits made by Under Armour — same company responsible for its suits in Sochi. The polyurethane material is thinner, stretch was built in to allow freedom of movement in shoulders. The sleeves and legs have slightly different material that helps flow over skaters’ arms and legs. Four years ago, the material was thicker, the seam pattern allow easy movement. the didn’t air and didn’t the the coin the and the “We’re confident that these things perform well, these guys have done some amazing times in these suits, so we know they’re battle-tested as well,” Domer said. “It’s fastest (suits) we’ve ever tested.” Mentally, the Americans feel confident in the suits they’ve been wearing for over a year. “Long track is a huge mental sport; if you believe in what you’re racing in, that’s a step in right direction,” Mantia said. “We’re all really with what the suits are, not going to be a Games.” Short track skater J.R. Celski was on 5,000 relay that earned a silver medal on the last night of competition in Sochi to prevent a shutout for U.S. He’s back again, and so is Mantia, who initially re-evaluated whether he wanted to continue skating after the debacle. “You let it simmer for a second and move on,” Mantia said. “Everybody up here is a go-getter, and we’re not going to let something like that stop any of us from going out and trying again.” and big there the the happy and that’s factor these the the then in PYEONGCHAN KOREA — The Cup the than
G, SOUTH Lindsey Vo n n waited eight years to return to the Winter Olympics. But the waiting continued when U.S. Alpine skiing icon boarded a flight from Munich, Germany, to Seoul on Wednesday for the Pyeongchang Games. Vonn, who missed the Sochi Olympics in 2014 because of an right knee, eventually had to switch planes. Then the replacement flight sat on the tarmac for hours. “Well hopefully we get to Korea,” Vonn tweeted to more 980,000 followers. When she finally arrived — the last U.S. athlete to go through team processing — the journey had taken 24 hours. The long wait is almost over. “I want to end on a high note,” said Vonn, whose first race is the super-G on Feb. 17. “I want to put an exclamation point on my career.” three-time Olympian is the biggest name in 11 days of Alpine competition in the windswept Taebaek Mountains. Vonn, 33, won two World downhill races in Germany last weekend, giving her 81 career victories. all-time record is 86 mark she expects to surpass. But Vonn is focused on Olympics after a series of last four years. There’s the right knee, a broken left ankle, hairline fracture in her left knee broken right arm. Finally healthy, Vonn will compete in the downhill, her best event for which she collected a gold medal at the Vancouver Games in 2010, the injuries the injured six the The wins,a and super-G and combined. Her knee prevents her from trying giant slalom. Regardless of the outcome, Vonn expects this to be her final Olympics. “It’s what I think about when I wake up and it’s what I think about when I go to sleep,” she said of the Games. But Vonn’s preeminence will be challenged by U.S. teammate Mikaela Shiffrin. She is the world’s most dominant skier, amassing almost twice as many overall points as Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, the No. 2 competitor on the World Cup circuit this season. At the Sochi Olympics, Shiffrin, 22, became youngest competitor to ever win the slalom. And she hasn’t slowed down. Shiffrin won nine of 10 races during a three-week stretch in December January. She’s heavy favorite to defend the title in the slalom and will contend to finish on the podium in the giant slalom and combined events, as well. “There’s a target on my back and I’m just trying to stay ahead of the arrow that’s trying to catch me,” Shiffrin said recently. But two of most familiar names in U.S. skiing won’t the the and the the be competing in Pyeongchang. Instead, Bode Miller Julia Mancuso will be working for NBC. Miller, who won six Olymmedals, retired in October. Mancuso, the most decorated female U.S. Olympic skier, followed suit in January, unable to fully return after right surgery that sidelined her for two seasons. There are other absences. Two of the best U.S. speed specialists, Steven Nyman Travis Ganong, suffered serious knee in the last month and a half that kept them at home. And Jackie Wiles, expected to be a key part of the women’s team, suffered several serious injuries to her left leg after crashing in Gerlast week. Chip White, U.S. women’s speed coach, called the loss of Wiles “difficult to watch.” But Ted Ligety — nicknamed “Ted Shred” and “Mr. GS” — returns. The slalom champion in Sochi hasn’t had an easy path He back surgery 13 ago and returned from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2016. Ligety finished third in the giant slalom last month in the final World Cup tune-up before the Olympics, his first podium 2015. “It was kind of a relief to be in a spot where I feel like I can challenge for Ligety “It’s been a long time.” But the attention in Pyeongchang, most of it, at least, will focus on Vonn. She’s already eyeing long, sweeping turns and big in the downhill course at Jeongseon Alpine Center. “I feel I’m coming into these Olympics on a hot streak,” Vonn said. “Last weekend was really icing on cake, exactly what I needed to build my confidence and get ready,” she added. and pic and many the back wins,” jumps hip underwent months injuries since like the said. the giant back. the