I’ve been keeping SpeedSkateworld.com in constant catch-up mode as of late, falling slightly behind in how fast & timely updates are posted.

Part of the reason for this is there’s an almost overwhelming amount of material floating around in cyberspace. I have also been busy with work & skating.

So here’s some of the latest long track speed skating from the last week;

OLYMPICS

Canada’s Olympic gold medal men’s team pursuit- photo from here

Falling across the line in the women’s team pursuit semi-final- photo from here

USA’s Shani Davis in the men’s 1000-meters- photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

Photo from here

A coach can play an important role in helping athletes adjust their performances, but you have to be careful to stick to the communications athletes expect to get from you. In timed events on the velodrome, athletes expect to see and hear a coach on the apron giving them pre-determined signals that tell them if they are above or below their goal pace. If the coach is out of place or giving unexpected signals, athletes even really intelligent ones get confused. As an athlete, especially in timed events, you learn to rely on patterns and routines so you can focus all your energy on going faster. The last thing you want is information youre not prepared to evaluate and deal with; it instantly destroys your rhythm and causes you to doubt what youre doing. Your brain goes from focusing on speed and power to trying to figure out whats going on.

The Olympics are now a totally different story than they were before. For me personally though. It’s weird walking into an Oval and just seeing who you see all the time. It was exactly like a world cup, except people were more excited for it and lots of Dutchies in the audience made it a carpet of orange and red. My job was to be a forerunner. What’s that? Well- I get to skate before the 1st pair of any women’s events, and test out the ice so they can make sure the electronic timer works correctly. With that being said…we also get a sweet looking skin suit and all this other clothing to match it. Along with accreditation and infield passes for our shift days!

• Vancouver 2010 Olympics [Results] [Pictures] [Videos]
• Vancouver will make or break you. Yes Love Post
• Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
• Daniel Yeow [Speed Skating Daily: Team Pursuit Final] [Speed Skating Daily: Team Pursuit Preliminaries]
• Men’s team pursuit- videos, pictures, results [Pictures]
• Women’s team pursuit [Pictures]
• Training Video
• Poor Sven Kramer
• A smart push `so effective it was stupid’ propels Cdn men to team pursuit gold
• Pictures- 2010 Olympics: Speedskating
• Speed skating: Canada wins men’s team pursuit
• German speedskater crashes, still wins
• Bob de Jong vult unieke medaillereeks aan.
• Morrison, Makowsky, and Giroux Earn Olympic Gold
• 5000 meter dames, Sablikova’s tweede goud?8 dagen geleden
• Denny Morrison [Morrison shows he's a team player] [Victorious Canadian speedskaters optimistic about their hockey brethren] [Fort St. John celebrates Denny Morrison's gold medal win] [Golden redemption in speed skating] [Morrison, Makowsky, and Giroux Earn Olympic Gold] [Video's from Golden Pursuit race] [Denny Morrison wins gold in the Team Pursuit] [Canada wins team pursuit gold]
• Olympic skater Jilleanne Rookard has Columbus ties
• Video- men’s pursuit
• Nederland derde en zesde op ploegenachtervolging
• Friesinger zwemt naar finale… en wint goud
• Video- men’s team pursuit final- Finale achtervolging (m)
• TP
• Wrong lane Sven Kramer
• Kramer and statistical ‘goals’
• Vancouver women’s pursuit final finish
• Dutch sprinter Wust speeds to gold
• Pascal Briand [ambiance in the street] [last 2 days in vancouver, plus que 2 jours] [quiet time...un peu de calme]
• Another CBC interview today with Mark Kelley
• CBC interview for “The Current”
• Pictures- Faces of the Games [More]
• News from Russia’s Ekaterina Lobysheva
• LinkiT [OS 2010: TP mannen Canada veroveren goud!] [OS 2010: TP vrouwen Goud voor Duitse dames en snelste tijd voor Canada levert plek 6 op] [OS 2010: Training en loting TP] [OS 2010 Clara Hughes wint brons op haar laatste Spelen]
• 2010 Olympics: Chad Hedrick
• Pictures- Best fans
• Hedrick departs Games as a new man
• Video- Sponsor US Speedskating

Who’s that on the inside?- photo from here

NON-OLYMPIC

• Pictures- Überprüfungswettkampf
• Pictures- 14. Internationaler Master-Cup
• Kramer en Kemkers uit elkaar na WK
• Latest long track speed skating results
• Pictures from Tims ProSkateShots [NKjeugd 2010 Hoorn de Westfries] [HOORN DAG3 2010] [DRIEDAAGSE BREDA 2010] [3DAAGSE GRONINGEN 2010] [Kuopio Finale GP 5 2010]
• Video- JORRIT BERGSMA IS BLIJ MET BAM
• Kramer laat NK allround schieten

Photo from Tim’s ProSkateShots

Photo from Tim’s ProSkateShots

Photo from Tim’s ProSkateShots

Randy Plett in Germany- photo from DESGphoto