Why is Colombia so good in inline speed skating
Colombia, with a population of 50 million, has more skating tracks than any country in the world. Only the three largest cities Bogota (8 million inhabitants) has 16 skating tracks, Medellin (4 million) has 9 skating tracks and Cali (3.4 million) has 18 tracks. Only these three cities together with 15.4 million inhabitants have 43 skating tracks.
With so many facilities it is not surprising that Colombia produces a lot of extremely qualified inline speed skaters. This counttry is undoubtedly the strongest country in the world with respect to inline speed skating. That is also clear from the table presenting the world titles per country. From the world titles per country during this century they got all world titles except 3.
The Netherlands (with Norway) has of the whole world the most tracks for skating on ice. However, The Netherlands with 17 million inhabitants has only 19 skating tracks which are in the winter permanent open for the public. This means that there are in The Netherlands relatively much less facilities for speed skating on ice but nevertheless the Dutch skaters, male and female, have won by far the most world championships during this century.
On the other hand, there are in France only 3 skating tracks for inline skating and in Italia none at all and nevertheless these two countries have obtained in the male competition 16 of the 23 personal world titles and Colombia only 1 and in the female competition France and Italian women won 6 personal world titles and Colombia only 3.
With so many facilities it is not surprising that Colombia produces a lot of extremely qualified inline speed skaters. This counttry is undoubtedly the strongest country in the world with respect to inline speed skating. That is also clear from the table presenting the world titles per country. From the world titles per country during this century they got all world titles except 3.
The Netherlands (with Norway) has of the whole world the most tracks for skating on ice. However, The Netherlands with 17 million inhabitants has only 19 skating tracks which are in the winter permanent open for the public. This means that there are in The Netherlands relatively much less facilities for speed skating on ice but nevertheless the Dutch skaters, male and female, have won by far the most world championships during this century.
On the other hand, there are in France only 3 skating tracks for inline skating and in Italia none at all and nevertheless these two countries have obtained in the male competition 16 of the 23 personal world titles and Colombia only 1 and in the female competition France and Italian women won 6 personal world titles and Colombia only 3.
Why are the two types of tables so different?
Above we have seen that Colombia wins by far the most medals in the world championships. On the other hand, looking at the results of the individual skaters hardly any Colombian skater appears in the list of world champoions. One obvious explanation could be that the Colombian skaters participate with more people of different age groups in the international competitions while there are not so many young speed skaters from other countries. Therefore, the Colombian delegation will always win more medals over all age groups than the other countries.
On the other hand, we see in the tables above that only very few Colombian skaters become world champion. A possible explanation for this result looks rather contradictory. I think that there is no doubt that Colombia has the best skaters of the world in many categories thanks to the large number of skaters, the high-quality trainingt and the amount of competitions they have under each other. Therefore, one can expect that they have very good, if not the best, candidates for all distances and win also most race in many categories of races and age groups.
However possibly they compete so much with each other that they have specialists for all distances and there remain only very few skaters that are able to win on several distances in their own country. Therefore, they have different candidates for many different distances in the world championships.
This problem does not exist in the other countries because the best skaters are rather good in different types of races and because there are fewer skaters in the other countries, many of them will be allowed to participate in different races and are in this way able to collect more points in different races and as a consequence collect also in total more points than the super specialists that come from Colombia and are not participating in so many races as the European skaters.
According to this explanation the limited success on individual level of the Colombian skaters is not due to lack of capabilities of the skaters but due to the fierce competition between the many high-quality skaters in Colombia specialized in specific races.
Presenting some information about results of one wold championship, this point can also be illustrated.
Above we have seen that Colombia wins by far the most medals in the world championships. On the other hand, looking at the results of the individual skaters hardly any Colombian skater appears in the list of world champoions. One obvious explanation could be that the Colombian skaters participate with more people of different age groups in the international competitions while there are not so many young speed skaters from other countries. Therefore, the Colombian delegation will always win more medals over all age groups than the other countries.
On the other hand, we see in the tables above that only very few Colombian skaters become world champion. A possible explanation for this result looks rather contradictory. I think that there is no doubt that Colombia has the best skaters of the world in many categories thanks to the large number of skaters, the high-quality trainingt and the amount of competitions they have under each other. Therefore, one can expect that they have very good, if not the best, candidates for all distances and win also most race in many categories of races and age groups.
However possibly they compete so much with each other that they have specialists for all distances and there remain only very few skaters that are able to win on several distances in their own country. Therefore, they have different candidates for many different distances in the world championships.
This problem does not exist in the other countries because the best skaters are rather good in different types of races and because there are fewer skaters in the other countries, many of them will be allowed to participate in different races and are in this way able to collect more points in different races and as a consequence collect also in total more points than the super specialists that come from Colombia and are not participating in so many races as the European skaters.
According to this explanation the limited success on individual level of the Colombian skaters is not due to lack of capabilities of the skaters but due to the fierce competition between the many high-quality skaters in Colombia specialized in specific races.
Presenting some information about results of one wold championship, this point can also be illustrated.
The results of the world championship in Barcelona 2019
There are skaters who are very good in short distances which require a lot of speed while there are also skaters who are very good in skating long distances which require a lot of endurance. In inline skating short distances are 100 till 1000 meters while long distances are 10 – 15 kms and the marathons of 42kms. Skaters that are good in short distances are normally not so good in long distances and visa versa. On the other hand, one can expect that skaters which are good in short distances are normally good in all different races in that class and the same will be true for the skaters specialized in long distances.
Looking at the results of the skaters of the long distances we see that Johanna Viveros realized in Barcelona 2019 during the world championships the following results:
There are skaters who are very good in short distances which require a lot of speed while there are also skaters who are very good in skating long distances which require a lot of endurance. In inline skating short distances are 100 till 1000 meters while long distances are 10 – 15 kms and the marathons of 42kms. Skaters that are good in short distances are normally not so good in long distances and visa versa. On the other hand, one can expect that skaters which are good in short distances are normally good in all different races in that class and the same will be true for the skaters specialized in long distances.
Looking at the results of the skaters of the long distances we see that Johanna Viveros realized in Barcelona 2019 during the world championships the following results:
There were 5 long distances races organized during this world championship in 2019. Johana Viveros is the only female skater of Columbia mentioned in the table above, She won two of these races and became twice number 2. In one race we have no information whether she participated or not. It is also interesting to mention that Francisca Lollobrigida won also two races and became second to other races. Both has no success in one other long-distance race.
For the Italian skater it is not so remarkable that she participated in all these races because Italia does not have so many female skaters, let alone female skaters of the level of Francisca Lollobrigida. Given the huge number of skaters in Colombia it is surprising that Johana Viveros probably participated in all long distance races. The explanation is probably that she was in Columbia in the selection races better than all the other possible candidates for the long distances on the world championships in 2019.
Given this situation she was selected for all these races and she earned a lot of points for her personal position in the world ranking and she won also many points for the ranking of Columbia as a country. Let us now look at the results on the short distances. There we see a very different picture.
For the Italian skater it is not so remarkable that she participated in all these races because Italia does not have so many female skaters, let alone female skaters of the level of Francisca Lollobrigida. Given the huge number of skaters in Colombia it is surprising that Johana Viveros probably participated in all long distance races. The explanation is probably that she was in Columbia in the selection races better than all the other possible candidates for the long distances on the world championships in 2019.
Given this situation she was selected for all these races and she earned a lot of points for her personal position in the world ranking and she won also many points for the ranking of Columbia as a country. Let us now look at the results on the short distances. There we see a very different picture.
There were also 5 short distance races held in that same world championship. In the table above we see that four female skaters from Colombia participated in these races: Geiny Pájaro, Kerstinck Sarmiento, Luz Karime Garzón and Andrea Cañon. Maybe there were even more but we see here only the once that ended in one of these races in one of the first three positions.This suggests that there are many good female speed skaters for the short distances. Whatever the reason is for this large number of participants, the consequence of this has been that Columbia won all five race in these world championships but also that different skaters won different races. Only Geiny Pájaro and Andrea Cañon won two races. For the ranking of the individual skaters this has had a negative consequence. I don´t know if all 4 skaters participated in all the races or that the selection for the different races was done on the basis of selection races in Colombia. Whatever happened, the fact that more female skaters participated in these races may have had a positive effect on the ranking of Colombia as a nation but a negative effect on the ranking of the individual skaters.
This is a typical illustration that the number of excellent skaters in Colombia has a positive effect on the ranking of Colombia as a nation in speed skating but a negative effect of the ranking of the individual skaters. Thiss eems the most plausible explanation for difference in resullt for Colombia as a nation and for the individual skaters which we have shown above.
This is a typical illustration that the number of excellent skaters in Colombia has a positive effect on the ranking of Colombia as a nation in speed skating but a negative effect of the ranking of the individual skaters. Thiss eems the most plausible explanation for difference in resullt for Colombia as a nation and for the individual skaters which we have shown above.