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Jay and Denny Morrison: sibling rivalry at Canadian Single Distances Championships?
Brothers Jay and Denny Morrison can look back on some good results at the Canadian Single Distances Championships. Both managed to skate several new personal best times and Denny even raced to a new Canadian record in the 1500m. Moreover, in this 1500m they were paired together and eventually ended up winning the gold and silver medal. Add Jay’s new personal best time in this distance to the equation and it is obvious that this was an extraordinary 1500m. So how do the Morrison brothers look back on the last weekend of 2007 and on that 1500m in particular?
By Jolanda Abbes
Despite a rocky start of the World Cup season with a disqualification and a fall, Denny Morrison (22) managed to pick himself up again very fast and medaled consistently in the 1000m and 1500m at the World Cups after that, including a gold medal in the 1000m in Calgary. After the last European World Cup in Erfurt, where he won a silver medal in the 1000m, he went back home to prepare for the Canadian Single Distances Championships, that took place December 28-31 in Calgary. At this competition he skated all six distances in order to (successfully) qualify for the World Sprint Championships and the World All-round Championships and raced to several new personal best times along the way, including his first 34 seconders in the 500m. On top of that, he finished second for the overall sprint title and won the overall all-round title: “It was a great weekend for me. Despite it being one of less pressure to perform against stiff competition, such as at a World Cup, I still had several great races – six in fact (in four days!).”
His brother Jay (24) looks back with mixed feelings on his performances at the Canadian Single Distances Championships. He also skated all distances, except the second 500m, and looks back on some highs and lows: “The 1000m was the only race that I was completely dissatisfied with over the weekend; I did not race according to plan. The 500m was a personal best time, my 5k was close to a personal best and same with the 10k. Each of these races had good points and some obvious bad points. For example, in the 5k and 10k, my laps were steady for the whole race (good) until the last two laps, where I did a 34 and then a 36 second lap in both (bad). I am very happy and excited about the way I executed the 1500m though, and the result of it. This race was the focus of my weekend and the highlight as well.” In the 500m Jay improved his previous personal best time of 36.44 to 36.22; his improvement in the 1500m was even more impressive: from a 1:46.20 to a 1:45.27.
Of the six distances Denny skated, four resulted in a new personal best time. In his first 500m he raced to a 34.87, which he later improved to a 34.85, and on the last day of the competition he improved his previous best time of 13:45.14 in the 10k to 13:41.65. On top of that, he managed to improve his own Canadian record in the 1500m. After skating this many new personal best times, is there one in particular that stands out for him? “I am happy about any personal best that I skate. Although I didn't expect a personal best in the 1500m, especially after my opener and first lap. I am really happy that I was able to achieve such a strong last lap – leaving my mind to ponder: what happens if I open 4 tenths faster?”
Despite an opener and a first lap that could have been better, Denny raced to a 1:42.76 and a gold medal in the 1500m, due mainly to a faster last lap than he ever skated before in this distance: “I opened pretty conservatively with a 23.7 and then my first lap was nothing spectacular at 25.15. I was focused on skating very even in my straights and continuing to stay relaxed through the corners; something I've been struggling with this year, including in my 1000m race at this competition. By staying focused on this, I think it really helped me to maintain speed through my last lap, which I think was a 27.7 – a personal best last lap.”
Like his brother Denny, Jay feels that his opener and first lap in the 1500m could have been stronger: “I had a race plan and knew how I wanted to feel during the race. The opener was not stellar (24.4), nor was the first lap (25.9), but both came fairly easily. The second lap was where the race really began for me and I dropped just .5 of a second from the previous lap. I really focused on staying relaxed and steady throughout the race.” As a result he raced to a time of 1:45.27, good for a silver medal. Moreover, he took a huge chunk off of his previous best time: “I think that the improvement comes from the training I have been doing with regards to racing itself – as opposed to general technical or physical training, I was practicing how to specifically race.”
What made this 1500m even more extraordinary, was the fact that the Morrison brothers were paired together, something which doesn’t happen that often, as Jay explains: “Denny and I have been paired together in a few Saturday morning races before, I think that the last one was in the Fall of 2005. Previous to that we were paired in a 1000m and even further back when we were competing for spots at the Junior Worlds in Ottawa in 2003, we were paired together for every single race that weekend! Being paired with Denny didn't have much of an effect on me in my race prep or race plan though. Of course he opens very fast, so I considered that there might be a crossover problem as he was outer. Turns out he went cleanly over the top! But other than that, I just focused on what I was going to do. After the race, it was very exciting to think that we raced together and skated personal bests. It was pretty cool that we were able to both achieve our race goal, in the same race! It was great to share that race for sure.”
Denny also looks back positively on racing against his brother again after quite some time: “We seem to really race well against each other. I started outer, and went over the top on the first crossover, and while there may have been a gap between us, I still stayed in the outer lane as long as possible so that if nothing else it would just make Jay feel confident and relaxed behind me in that first lap. It also gave me a nice setup going into the inner. Overall though, I think me and my brother thrive off of each other when racing against each other, as we also got 1-2 in every race at the Junior Trials in 2003 (that Jay mentioned earlier), except the 5k!”
So after both skating to new personal best times in the 1500m, Denny and Jay took the gold and silver medal once again, though this was a step up from the Junior Trials in 2003. Denny: “I don't think we've ever been on a Canadian Championship podium together before. Jay has certainly been up there before, as he was the number 1 1500m skater in Canada for a couple of years. But that was before my time, and just as I was making my way to the podium, he had a bye to the team the first year, and then was out because of injury and other reasons the following two years. So we sort of switched places in the last three years, but it’s great that we are now both finally up there together as we should be.” Jay reflects: “Like Denny said, we placed first and second in almost every race at the Junior World Trials in 2003. In those days, I topped him, though... How times have changed...”
After the good results at the Canadian Single Distances Championships the time has now come to look forward to the rest of the season. Denny: “It’s always great to skate personal bests, no matter where the competition. The ice wasn't particularly fast in Calgary that weekend either, giving both me and Jay confidence that better performances are to follow in the upcoming end of the season.” Because of his good 1500m, Jay managed to qualify for the winter portion of the World Cups: “I am very much looking forward to skating the World Cups this winter. I have a great appreciation for racing at this level now, as I have not had the opportunity to race many World Cups over the past couple of years.”
Because Jay qualified for the World Cups, the Morrison brothers will at least travel to one international competition together. Jay: “I will be racing at the Continental Cup in Calgary, the World Cup in Hamar and the World Cup in Baselga de Pine. Where I go after that, is all performance based and depends completely on points, how I race, how other people do, et cetera. I will just race and see where it takes me.” Denny: “My winter portion is going to be jam packed with competition. I will be racing everything other than Baselga.” So for Jay his next competition will be the Continental Cup in Calgary this upcoming weekend, Denny’s will be the World Sprint Championships in Heerenveen on January 19-20. After that they will both compete at the World Cup in Hamar.
Photo credits: Dennis Morrison
Photos taken at Canadian Single Distances Championships, 30 December 2007, 1500m men
