U.S. speedskaters fight distractions

KEARNS — The effortless glide is misleading. In a world where precision and finely tuned motions are required for success, speedskating in the United States is far from the Olympic-caliber organization one would expect.

"Right now, this hasn't been a very good fit," U.S. speedskater Catherine Raney, a two-time Olympian, said. "It's hard for us to concentrate on just skating with all the distractions being pushed on us all the time."

Adding to the distractions is a new twist. Three-time Olympic medalist Chad Hedrick accidentally let it slip that the U.S. short track program will be joining the long track racers in Utah for their base of operations. That means more coaches, more athletes and — hopefully — more success will be found on the oval in the shadows of the Oquirrh Mountains.

Cowley, though, said it was a bit premature to make an official announcement. He said once all the I's are dotted and T's crossed a formal announcement will be made after the short track season wraps up in a couple of weeks.

The many distractions have left the national skating team in disarray. Following a highly successful 2006 Olympics in Italy, the national speedskating organization didn't simply make some adjustments.

"We've had a restructuring," Ryan Shimabukuro, the national long track team coach, said. "But this was a major overhaul."

Shimabukuro is the only coach still with the national team following the 2006 Olympic Games. Gone is virtually everyone else associated with the program.

New executive director Bob Crowley was brought in from U.S. Figure Skating and the headquarters was moved from Cleveland to Utah.

"We had no staff, no coaches and we were bankrupt," Crowley said. "We really had to start everything over from scratch almost."

Not only is U.S. Speedskating restarting from the business and administration side, the skaters themselves are transitioning. Many stalwarts on the team retired after the Olympics and others took several months off. With some making moves from training facilities around the world to Utah, only to find a shortage of coaches and experienced training partners, it is safe to say speedskating is in a downturn after years of impressive performances on the world stage.

The skaters get a chance to correct some of that this weekend when the ISU World Single Distance Championships make their return to the "fastest ice on earth."