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Marcel Lacroix and Denny Morrison teaming up for another season – Part II
Within a week after claiming his first world title at the World Single Distances Championships in Nagano, Denny Morrison finished his season on an even higher note when he skated to a new world record in the 1500m at the ING Finale in Calgary. Exhausted after flying home from Japan he crushed the old world record and consequently will start out the new season as the reigning world champion and world record holder in the 1500m. With his coach Marcel Lacroix, Morrison looks back on that wicked week in March and looks forward to the upcoming pre-Olympic season.
By Jolanda Abbes
It has been a great year for Denny Morrison. Despite the slow start in November, mentioned in Part I of this story, he kept it all together and finished his season with eleven World Cup medals (two golds, eight silvers and one bronze), a gold and a silver medal at the World All-round Championships, a gold and a bronze medal at the World Single Distances Championships and a world record in the 1500m at the ING Finale.
Especially the last week of the 2007-2008 season was a week to remember for Morrison. After a, for him, disappointing bronze medal in the 1000m at the World Single Distances Championships in Nagano, he raced to his first victory in an international 1500m on the last day of the competition and consequently was crowned world champion for the very first time. But he was not allowed a lot of time to enjoy and celebrate his victory, since he was expected at the ING Finale in Calgary just a few days later. Because the ice is so fast in Calgary and the ING Finale usually takes place shortly after the World Single Distances Championships, when the athletes are still in top shape, this event is considered to be a great opportunity to try and break records, but for Morrison it was not at all the best preparation possible to aim for a new world record. He reflects: “The day I skated my world record, conditions were not perfect for me at all. It was the end of the season, I was tired, I was coming down from the high of wining the 1500m, I was still jet-lagged, support staff was nowhere to be seen, and there were changes to my race time just before my race. That's not to say that the ice conditions were not exemplary and very fast.”
Complete video of Morrison's world record race
Also, that’s not to say that Morrison did not give it his best shot, despite the fatigue and the lack of support staff, leading him to a faster 1500m than had ever been skated before: 1:42.01 (23.43, 25.05, 25.98, 27.55). The previous world record of 1:42.32, shared by Shani Davis and Erben Wennemars, was crushed, as was Morrison’s old personal best time of 1:42.76. When asked what it felt like to skate such a fast 1500m, Morrison said: “It felt great to skate the 1500m so fast! I knew I was on a good one and could really feel that I was carrying my speed well when I was able to enter the final turn just the right way and still do a strong build even this late in the race. I used every last ounce of my remaining energy to do my best to skate home technically sound in the final 100m. I couldn't have been happier when I looked up and saw the time... OK, maybe if it were a 1:41, but I guess that leaves something for us all to aim for next season!”
Not only will his world record be something to aim for next season, but the other 1500m specialists will also be on Morrison’s tail in their pursuit of being crowned world champion in the 1500m at the World Single Distances Championships, which will take place in Richmond, BC in March 2009. In 2010 the (indoor) Richmond Oval will be the venue of the Olympic long track speed skating events and the World Single Distances Championships this upcoming March will be the first opportunity for international athletes to compete at this oval, which was already used as a training location by the Canadian team last month and is almost ready to open its doors to the rest of the world. However, even though Morrison is proud of both his world title and his world record, he is very clear about which one is more important to him: “The world title means a lot more, because all of the best skaters in the world were there that day and we all competed with one another on the same ice, and under the same conditions. I am still very happy about my world record, but what makes me the most proud of this accomplishment is that I was able to do it on my own – no drafts in the back-stretch, no chase into the final turn.”
The fact that Morrison was able to end the season the way he did, despite the setbacks he faced at the beginning of the season, is an indication for his coach Marcel Lacroix that Morrison has made some very important improvements over the past season. Lacroix: “Overall he made some great physical, technical, tactical and psychological improvements. Also, Denny has matured into a professional athlete where he is business when it comes down to training and especially racing.”
A specific example of Morrison’s improvements over the past season is the way he is now able to finish his 1000m and 1500m. In the past he often was on track towards the winning time one lap before the finish, and then lost too much time in that final lap, but over the past season he gradually managed to improve his last 400m in a race, which increased his chances of winning. In fact, looking back on his world record, Morrison feels that his last lap was actually one of the keys to being able to clock the fastest time ever skated in the 1500m: “Keys to my world record were better than average top end speed, and finally being able to keep it together in the final lap. Obviously I want to improve both of these attributes though, as there is still plenty of room for improvement compared to the skaters who are the best in either area.”
And his coach agrees that there is still enough left for Morrison to improve, no matter how great the end of his season was. Lacroix sums up: “In my own opinion Denny still has a lot to learn and he is not near to his full potential yet. Physically he still needs to continue on working on his general development in order to become a complete machine, technically there is still some work to be done and this past summer he has made some good improvements in different facets of his technique, and tactically he still needs to continue on trying and developing a personal race profile for the 500m to the 10k.” With respect to the 1500m in particular, Morrison feels that he has the most room for improvement in his last lap, as mentioned above. “And I might also try some new strategies in practice races early in this season and see how I feel about racing some World Cup 1500m in a slightly different way.”
Besides his new-found status of world record holder and world champion, another new aspect for Morrison this season will be the new Canadian teams that were already mentioned in part I of this story. Lacroix is still his coach, but at the end of last season the teams were regrouped in such a way that Lacroix is now coaching the middle distance men instead of a team consisting of both men and women with various specializations. Lacroix has been training with them all summer and is now looking forward to the first races of the season: “I can’t wait for them to get going with some races. They bonded really well as a squad this summer and they are all moving forward as one. The hard and quality training they’ve been doing multiplied by their excellent attitude will only produce some great results.” Time will tell how Lacroix’s team will perform this season, but Morrison is confident that the regrouping of the teams will prove to be a change for the better: “The new groups are an exciting start to the new season. Training with other middle distance skaters who each have a lot of potential to become some of the greatest skaters in the world gives us all something to look forward to. They can push me to new levels and I can pull them along with me. We will be seeing a lot more of Marcel's athletes skating World Cups this season!”
Lacroix and Morrison have been working together ever since Morrison was still on the Canadian Junior Team, and since then coach and athlete have built up a strong relationship. Not only are they both passionate about speed skating, but they also share an interest in many other things concerning speed. Morrison: “The relationship between me and Marcel is excellent – we both have very intense personalities and are very passionate about the sport. Not to mention we have pretty similar interests outside of sport – cars, motorcycles, you name it. If it has a powerful engine we like it. If it has a supercharger or a couple of turbochargers, then we love it!”
With his world record in the 1500m Morrison has set a new standard for all the other 1500m specialists to aim for, and he is looking forward to defending it this upcoming season. But even though expectations may be high now, Morrison does not seem to feel a lot of additional pressure starting out the new season as the reigning world champion and world record holder in this distance: “Surprisingly enough, I don't feel too much pressure going into the next season. My seasons always seem to start off a little bit sluggish and then pick up throughout the year. I can't guarantee I will be slow at the start of the season this year, but if I am, I won't be too worried about it because I have all season to make up for it.”
Olympic Oval, Calgary
Photo credits:
Photo 1 - 3: DESGphoto/Lars Hagen
Photo 4: Petra Abbes
