Speed skating royalty crowned at all-round worlds

This weekend in Calgary, on Olympic ice, some of the last vestiges of what can be thought of as the golden age of sport will command the stage.

In an era when specialists increasingly dominate, overall greatness will get its chance to shine at the world all-round speed skating championships.

In Calgary, four dozen international speed skaters, both men and women, will compete in this gruelling competition covering two days and several different distances in order to crown the sport's quintessential champions.

Those who emerge victorious will be revered for all-time by the many ardent followers of an age-old pursuit.

Jaap Eden. (Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands)

Since 1893, when Dutchman Jaap Eden proved himself to be the greatest skater at not one but all the distances on the canals of his native Amsterdam, the world all-round championships have rewarded the intrepid athlete who possesses many skills.  

Like the medley swimmer, the decathlete or the gymnast who masters each distinct event, the all-round speed skater is both a sprinter and a marathoner — capable of lightning-quick velocity as well as breathtaking endurance.

'At some point you're going to blow up'

Only once has a Canadian man won this tile, and you have to go all the way back to 1897 to learn of the exploits of Winnipeg's J.K. (Jack) McCullouch, who claimed the championship on outdoor ice during a frigid Montreal winter.

Jack McCullouch.

On the women's side, another Winnipegger, Sylvia Burka, was the all-round champion in 1976 at Gjovik, Norway. Yet another Manitoban, Cindy Klassen, prevailed twice, in 2003 and again in 2006, the same year that she delivered a record five Canadian medals at a single Olympic Games in Torino.

The all-round champion must excel over four separate distances. In the case of the men, it's the 500m, 1500m, 5000m and the gruelling 10,000m (a bundle of races known as the "Big Combination"). All times are converted to points based on something known as the Samalog system of scoring. The times of the longer races are divided so as to base all scores on the 500m distance. At the end of the competition, the skater with the lowest total score is declared the all-round champion.

Sylvia Burka. (Canadian Press/COC)

For the women, the methodology is identical but the distances are different. They'll race the 500m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m (the "Small Combination").

Failure at any one of the races can mean virtual elimination. The entire exercise requires not only supreme athleticism but also strategy and certainly a heaping measure of inner fortitude.

"It's a completely different animal to attack four races at varying distances in two days," says four-time Olympic medallist and middle-distance man Denny Morrison, who will fly Canadian colours this weekend in Calgary. "You have to shut off the self-preservation parts of your brain in order to do this, because at some point you know you are going to blow up." 

Legends made

For world-class speed skaters, this event is the pinnacle of their sport.

Johann Olav Koss. (Getty Images)

"It was bigger than the gold medal at the Olympics for us," says three-time champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway, who won four Olympic titles in the early 1990s. "To win it means you are the best speed skater in the world. It was the thing to win but it was exceptionally hard to do. You have four races, but each is against the best in the world and you have to make every race perfect."

Legends have grown at these championships.

The incredible Gunda Niemann of Germany won eight in nine years in the 1990s. Oscar Mathisen of Norway won five times prior to the First World War. Ard Schenk of the Netherlands, an enormous man, won three in a row to start the 1970s.

Eric Heiden. (Getty Images)

But perhaps the name that strikes the strongest chord with many Canadian fans is that of American Eric Heiden. At the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980, Heiden captured five gold medals and swept the distances. He also won the world all-round title three times between 1977 and '79. Heiden, quite simply, put speed skating on the map in North America while excelling at a European winter obsession.

"Heiden crushed people," recalls Koss, who was in the stands when the American superstar won his last all-round title before 36,000 spectators in Oslo. "He was the biggest thing in the sport and I remember it so vividly. I was 11 years old and I knew I wanted to be just like him."

Double Dutch gold?

In Calgary, the Dutch stars Irene Wust and Sven Kramer, who have won five and six all-round championships, respectively, are likely to lead the procession.

At the culmination of the season they have a chance to etch their names indelibly once more in the history books of a resilient event — one that has survived wars, not to mention the modern age of sport that favours precision and classification before overall excellence.

In certain parts of Europe, the winners of this event can become celebrities.

"Let me put it this way," Morrison says. "If you're world all-round champion, you're a household name in Holland."

In many ways, the track will belong to the traditionalists this weekend. Royalty on ice is bound to reign at the Olympic Oval.

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