Best on ice at Renfrew - Skating squads convene in Vancouver

Jim Jamieson, The Province - September 12th 2008
It would be hard to find a better sport than speed skating for the first event to be held at a 2010 Olympic Games venue.
At a media conference on Thursday, officials and athletes from the national speed skating and figure skating squads were on hand at the Pacific Coliseum to highlight upcoming training and selection camps at the Renfrew Street venue. (...)
Former 500-metres champion Francois-Louis Tremblay of Montreal said the ice at the Coliseum was slow in a July training camp, but looks good now.

"They had some trouble with the quickness, but it's been remade now," he said. "I'm quite excited to see how the arena is going to look for the World Cup. I think it's a great place to have it. I'm sure it's going to be lots of people and it's going to be loud."

The national speed-skating team will conduct trials from Tuesday to Thursday at the Coliseum to determine the makeup of the national team for next month's World Cup event. Six men and six women will be selected to the team.

National team program director Yves Hamelin said the sport has raised its profile in the last few Olympics and he expects attendance to be high in a Canadian city.

"We usually have good attendance in Canada with a lot of energy from the crowd," said Hamelin. "People will love it. When you see it on TV it's one thing, but when you're on-site it's completely different. We're hoping for between 3,000 and 4,000 people."

The ice is set at Pacific Coliseum

Ron Judd - Seattle Times - September 12th 2008
Looking for a pre-Games Winter Olympic fix? Tickets for the World Cup short-track speedskating event at Pacific Coliseum, Oct. 24-26, go on sale Saturday. Coliseum operators showed off the building's renovations -- chiefly, the changing of the ice sheet from NHL sized to international-sized, Thursday, saying the building's $20 million makeover will be complete well in advance of the October event, exptected to draw skaters from 25 nations.

We're still awaiting word on which U.S. skaters, such as Seattle's Apolo Ohno, might be competing. But it's likely much or most of the team will be there. The event is a week after the World Cup's first race, in Kearns, Utah.

The Pacific Coliseum ice, meanwhile, was declared fit by Canadian short track star Francois-Louis Tremblay of Montreal, who told the Vancouver Province that the surface, slow in a training camp in July, feels good now. (...)

Canadian skating officials say tickets for the short-track World Cup go on sale Saturday through www.ticketmaster.ca. (The Ticketmaster web site says they begin selling Oct. 13, but that would seem to be cutting it fairly close.) See the event web site here.

Skater already has a Vancouver plan

Des nouvelles de Ryan -

Bay City Times - Sunday, September 07, 2008

For years, Ryan Bedford has had his eyes on being a member of the U.S. Olympic Short Track men's speedskating team.

But now that the 21-year-old Midland skater has successfully dabbled in Long Track, his focus is on making both squads.[...]

''This summer I took the opportunity to change up my routine and give long track a shot,'' said Bedford. ''I am back and forth training with both teams.

''I plan on keeping my main focus on Short Track for the time being, but depending on how well Long Track goes, I just might focus more on that.'' [...]

'I'd heard from people that I would be good at long track over short track because of how tall I am and my endurance strength,'' said Bedford, who is ranked 10th in the World Short Track 1,500 meters. ''I started out wearing my short track skates.

Although switching blades of glory (from racing against other competitors in circles around a short track to racing on long track against the clock) is a difficult balance because there's not enough time to train for both speedskating sports, Bedford said he's got that 'feeling' that he can do it.

''I can switch back and forth from long track to short track with very little loss of 'feeling.' Some people have a hard time making the switch,'' he said.