Speedskaters excited about ‘team pursuit’

SALT LAKE CITY – Like golf, gymnastics or skiing, speedskating is a solitary and often lonely endeavor.

So the addition of the “Team Pursuit” event to the 2006 Olympic Games has Jennifer Rodriguez excited.

“Our sport is so not a team sport,” Rodriguez said during Fall World Cup 2 at the Utah Olympic Oval last month. “So when we get out there and skate together, it’s a lot of fun.”

In team pursuit, teams of three skaters race around the track simultaneously. At the Olympics, men’s races will be eight laps, the women’s six. Times are based on when the third member of a team crosses the finish line. The long-track trials will be today through Saturday at Salt Lake City.

During the race, participants do not stay in the same order in which they start. Instead, they trade the lead position – the toughest spot, as the other two skaters draft the leader – by weaving amongst each other.

While that skill necessitates a certain amount of timing and familiarity, skaters and coaches said it does not require as much practice as, say, the passing of a baton between members of a track and field relay race.

“Everybody skates in groups all the time anyway,” said Tom Cushman, Rodriguez’s coach. “So they’re used to following strokes and staying in sync. Pulling out of a lead and jumping back in, usually not at quite that high of a speed, but that’s something we’re doing every day in practice anyway, so it’s not a hugely unusual skill.”

Because of that, Cushman said, and because those who will be on the U.S. Olympic team do not all train in one location, the teams used at the Olympic Games likely will be chosen not because of chemistry they have built through hours of practice.

“I think (team pursuit) is still new enough where it’s more important to have your best athletes out there together,” he said.

That presents another potential problem, however: Who takes the lead and for how long?

“I guess at the time they’ll have to figure it out,” said Bart Schouten, Chad Hedrick’s coach. “They have to be honest with each other. They have to swallow their pride” and let the strongest pull the load.

The event will take place over two days in the middle of the speedskating schedule. But because it comes between the 500- 1,000-meter races for both men and women, some athletes may not be able to compete.

“I’d like to (compete in it), I just don’t know if it’s possible,” Rodriguez said. “I think it’s a really fun event, and I think our women have a really good chance to win a medal.”

The U.S. men should be a favorite, too.