Canada’s Morrison hanging up his skates
Denny Morrison, whose 16-year speed skating career was marked with medals, crushing setbacks and heroic comebacks, has announced his retirement from competition.
Speed Skating Canada will celebrate Morrison and his accomplishments on Saturday at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where his former teammates will be competing in a World Cup meet.
The 34-year-old from Fort St. John, B.C. retires with a share of the record for most Olympic medals won by a Canadian male long track skater. Both he and Gaetan Boucher own four of them.
Morrison collected a silver in the team pursuit at Turin 2006, gold in the team pursuit at Vancouver 2010, and both silver in the 1,000-metres and bronze in the 1,500-metres at Sochi 2014.
But he’s perhaps better known for two things — being the beneficiary of an incredible act of sportsmanship at the Olympics, and returning to the sport after sustaining life-threatening injuries in a motorcycle accident, and then a stroke while recovering.
Teammate Gilmore Junio gave his spot in the 1,000-metres at Sochi 2014 to Morrison, who had failed to qualify for the distance after falling at the Olympic trials. Junio said he felt it was the right thing to do for the Canadian team, and he was correct. Morrison skated a brilliant race and won a bronze medal.
In May 2015, Morrison suffered a moderate brain injury, torn ACL, punctured lung, ruptured liver and kidneys, and a small spinal fracture in a motorcycle accident. After a full year of rehab, he was competing again in March 2016. However, shortly after completing a 25-day bike tour in the U.S., he suffered a stroke that was caused by injuries suffered in the motorcycle crash.
After surgery to implant two stents in his neck, he was racing again in the fall of 2016 and would go on to complete the comeback by competing at Pyeongchang 2018, his fourth and final Olympics. He finished 13th in the 1,500-metres and seventh as part of the team pursuit.
“From falling flat onto my face at a home World Cup in Calgary and getting back up to win World Championships three months later, to returning to skating the fastest times in history after my life-threatening and life perspective altering setbacks; my long career may be remembered for its resiliency through maximal adversity, but what I will remember the most are the people who gave me the chance to make it all happen: the volunteers and coaches,” Morrison wrote on the Speed Skating Canada website.
Throughout his World Cup career, which began in 2003, he collected 68 medals (21 gold, 29 silver, 18 bronze) and 11 more at the World Single Distance Championships.
He remains the Canadian record holder over 1,500 metres (1:42.01) and in the team pursuit (3:36.44), a time set in Salt Lake City along with Ted-jan Bloemen and Ben Donnelly.