Differents forms of speed skating
The ice marathons are held in the winter and the marathons on the roads in the summer period so it is in principle possible to participate in both activities. That happens also very frequently. Because ice marathon skating is so far a typical Dutch activity, with a small group in the USA, the participation goes more from the Dutch ice skaters to the inline marathons than in the other direction. Exceptions are several Italian skaters such as Fabio Francolini and Francesca Lolobrigida, the Belgians Bart Swings and Mathias Vosté, the USA skater Joey Mantia and the German Felix Rijhnen, the Chinese Guo Dan and the Chilean Viviana Rodriquez For some of them it is part of their winter training for the shorter distances of the long track skating (maximal 10 km). If they succeed in making the transition from inline to ice speed skating it allows them to participate in Olympic games which is not possible in inline skating.
The transition is however not that simple as canbe seen in a nice video of Irristaka Taldea. The movement of the two forms of skating are put above each other. At the top is the movement of the inline skater Bart Swings and at the bottom is the movement of the ice skater Sven Kramer. The video shows that the ice skater makes just one push starting with the legs close together and continues gliding on the other leg. The inline skater divides the movement in two; first he pushes his body from one leg to the other leg (farther away from his pushing leg) and then with the leg on which he glides he makes a second push. That is why this movement is called the “double push”. If you make the screen large and repeat the video several times you can see the differences very well.
The transition is however not that simple as canbe seen in a nice video of Irristaka Taldea. The movement of the two forms of skating are put above each other. At the top is the movement of the inline skater Bart Swings and at the bottom is the movement of the ice skater Sven Kramer. The video shows that the ice skater makes just one push starting with the legs close together and continues gliding on the other leg. The inline skater divides the movement in two; first he pushes his body from one leg to the other leg (farther away from his pushing leg) and then with the leg on which he glides he makes a second push. That is why this movement is called the “double push”. If you make the screen large and repeat the video several times you can see the differences very well.
When I saw Chad Hedrick skating more or less like an inline skater on the ice I was really surprised by his style but he was very fast and even won gold medals on the Olympic Games in Turin (2006) in this way.
The top of the Dutch marathon skating competition also participates in the European and World championships inline skating. They are there also successful like Gary Hekman and Manon Kamminga and many others. In the past Greta Smit and Erik Hulzenbosch also participated in both disciplines.
The marathon skating has also had its effect on the “long track skating” championships. Normally two skaters compete in this discipline against each other in separate tracks. Recently a new form, very similar to marathon skating has been introduced, the so called “Mass start”. In this case all skaters start at the same time together on a 400 meter track and skate 15 rounds and the winner is the person who is the fastest. This is very similar to marathon skating on ice except that the distance is much shorter. Most of the participants in these races come from marathon skating. How impressive this can be shows the video below. In this race Irene Schouten fell in the beginning of the race but she went after the pack and got support from her team colleague Carien Kleibeuker who helped her to get in the pack again. In the end Irene Schouten was able to win the sprint thanks to the help she had received from her team mate.
The top of the Dutch marathon skating competition also participates in the European and World championships inline skating. They are there also successful like Gary Hekman and Manon Kamminga and many others. In the past Greta Smit and Erik Hulzenbosch also participated in both disciplines.
The marathon skating has also had its effect on the “long track skating” championships. Normally two skaters compete in this discipline against each other in separate tracks. Recently a new form, very similar to marathon skating has been introduced, the so called “Mass start”. In this case all skaters start at the same time together on a 400 meter track and skate 15 rounds and the winner is the person who is the fastest. This is very similar to marathon skating on ice except that the distance is much shorter. Most of the participants in these races come from marathon skating. How impressive this can be shows the video below. In this race Irene Schouten fell in the beginning of the race but she went after the pack and got support from her team colleague Carien Kleibeuker who helped her to get in the pack again. In the end Irene Schouten was able to win the sprint thanks to the help she had received from her team mate.
On later pages I will give special attention to inline skating.