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Denny Morrison: ups and downs of a Canadian speed skater
After several podium finishes at the World Cups, a silver Olympic medal in Turin, and a very impressive performance at the World All-round Championships last season, expectations for the fall World Cups were high for Denny Morrison. However, heavy pre-season training and malfunctioning equipment may have lead to slightly disappointing World Cup results so far in comparison to last year. But then again, after his convincing wins at the Canadian Single Distances Championships in December, the fall World Cups already seem to have taken place a long time ago. Denny Morrison reflects upon the first half of the season and looks forward to what is still to come.
By Jolanda Abbes
Photo credit: Jolanda Abbes
Last year Denny Morrison made a great impression at the first World Cups and the World All-round Championships. And even though the Olympics in Turin may have been disappointing for him in terms of the individual distances, he was a member of the Canadian team pursuit team that brought home a silver Olympic medal. After such a great season, expectations are high for this post Olympic season and the years leading up to the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. But despite a great pre-season with some very impressive times in the 1000m and 1500m, only one bronze World Cup medal and the fact that he kicked himself in the same way in several of his races, which slowed him down considerably, made Morrison starting to doubt himself for a while in the fall.
Of course, this is a post Olympic season and in that sense it is just a stepping stone towards the next Olympics in Vancouver, but it is also a building season for Morrison, who is only 21. ‘In that respect this season is very important. As well is every season on the way to 2010. But I’m sure that if you ask me in three years from now how important my results were in 2006/2007, I won’t hardly remember what they were. However, for the time being, this is a very important season, because this is what I’m doing right now, which will eventually lead me to good results in Vancouver.’ Because this is considered a building season and it’s a post Olympic year, summer training for Morrison was comprised of a lot more volume than previous years, as well as more hours of intense workouts. On top of that, the upcoming winter portion of the season will be used to overall gain as much experience skating World Cups races and other competitions as possible to not only increase physical strength but to get stronger mentally as well. Not only is Morrison planning to skate the World All-round Championships and the World Single Distances Championships, but he also qualified for the World Sprint Championships after very convincingly winning both the 500m and the 1000m at the Canadian Single Distances Championships in December. ‘World Sprint Championships is important to me as well, but my 500 opener will have to improve to sub-10 seconds before I put a tonne of emphasis on doing well in the overall sprint competition.’ All in all, Morrison will be busy this season.
Based on his performances last year, Morrison was pre-qualified in the 1000m and 1500m World Cups and therefore did not need to race those distances at the fall World Cup trials. ‘I raced a 1000m two weeks earlier skating a 1:08.77, and a 1500m three weeks earlier skating a 1:44.28, so I felt confident that I did not need to race those distances again before World Cups (something which maybe I was wrong about in the end). So I decided to race the 500m – to work on my start – and see what happened, and the 5000m because I knew I had the volume, and was feeling confident in the longer distances.’ In the end, Morrison qualified for all World Cup distances, giving him the opportunity to race whichever races fitted best into his training and preparation for the rest of the season. ‘I decided to not go to the Asian Sprint World Cups, because they would have kept me competing overseas for five weeks, and I would have arrived back in Canada with only two weeks time to prepare for not only the Canadian Single Distances Championships, but for the rest of the season. Coming back after the first three European World Cups made sense, because it gave me plenty of time to rest, and then have two more weeks of solid training under my belt to carry me through the rest of the season.’ Besides the obvious 1000m’s and 1500m’s Morrison decided to race some 500m’s at the first European World Cups as well for one simple reason: ‘Because I qualified! I actually only raced three of the first four available to me, and I used those races mostly as a pre-race, and to get some experience racing 500m races at world level competitions, to get a feel for World Championships.’
Morrison: 'Wow, that photo looks like it was taken just after I kicked
myself on one of my 1500m's and was trying to re-accelerate!'
Photo credit: Meijco van Velzen, http://www.meijco.nl/
After his impressive pre-season results Morrison’s expectations for the fall World Cups were high. However, looking back on the first three World Cups, he admits to being slightly disappointed. He did gain a bronze medal in the second 1000m in Heerenveen, but it was his only podium finish. ‘My expectations for myself at the fall World Cups included a few more podium finishes, and definitely a bunch more top five finishes. Even knowing I was using those races as “training” races, I thought I still would have been able to create better results.’
So what happened exactly at the World Cups in Europe and how does Morrison look back on them? As mentioned before, he won a bronze medal in the second 1000m at the first World Cup of the season in Heerenveen, but his first 1000m and the 1500m in Heerenveen were not quite as good as may have been expected. ‘I have trouble relaxing in the 1000m race, because I have so much energy left over at the end and want to use it all in the race, because it makes me feel as though I will skate faster. What ends up happening though, is I become very inefficient, so although I am using more energy, I am actually skating slower. In the second 1000m in Heerenveen I skated it as if it was a 1500m, and although at the end of the race I felt like I could have done another 500 meters, it was the one that gained me a bronze medal.’ In the 1500m in Heerenveen Morrison kicked himself and almost fell, resulting in a somewhat disappointing 7th spot. After Heerenveen the second World Cup was in Berlin, where Morrison raced another 1000m and a 1500m, in which he ended up 5th and 6th respectively. ‘My races in Berlin were satisfactory, but not excellent. My results in Berlin (relative to how good I thought my races were) were actually not bad at all.’ Third and last fall World Cup for Morrison was in Moscow, where he skated a 1500m and a 10k in the B group. In the 1500m he seemed to be on track towards a fast time, but had another mental lapse and kicked the back of his right foot with the blade of his left foot while crossing over in the third last turn, after which he ended up 6th. ‘That sort of stumble causes a huge loss in momentum, and kills your speed for the remainder of the race. It is very hard to re-accelerate at that point in a 1500m.’ However, Morrison looks back with great satisfaction on his 10k in Moscow, in which he ended up 22nd in the B group. ‘I had never skated a 10k on slow ice before (that is: ice other than Calgary and Salt Lake City), so I wasn’t sure if I was going to blow up with 15 laps to go. But in the end, I held together pretty flat lap times.’
Reflecting upon his World Cup results, Morrison sees several reasons for his performances not being quite as good as he expected beforehand. ‘The main reason in my mind is heavy training in the pre-season, and through the fall World Cups. On top of this, however, is the discovery of some malfunctioning equipment. My blades, which I have now been on for three years, have begun to pitch outward, relative to being perpendicular to flat. This means a loss in biomechanical efficiency, and therefore overall speed is down, and energy at the end of a race. I am now on new boots and blades, which feels amazing, and have been skating personal bests both in practice and in the 500m since.’
Looking back, Morrison admits to starting to second-guess himself during the fall World Cups: ‘Kicking myself in the exact same way in four of my races was really beginning to bother me. However, now on new boots and blades, and slightly revised recovery technique in the corners, it should not be a problem anymore.’ Additionally however, he realizes that the mere experience of skating these World Cups is something positive he can take with him for the rest of the season: ‘Just skating them, having different things happening in different races. I can take those experiences with me into future races to make me a stronger competitor.’
So now, with new skates on his feet and more World Cup experiences under his belt, Morrison looks forward to the rest of the season with regained confidence and slightly altered expectations: ‘My expectations are now based more on what I expect myself to do in training, rather than what I expect the outcome to be at a competition.’ He is already pre-qualified for the World All-round Championships based on his results last year, and made a great impression at the Canadian Single Distances Championships in December. Not only did he win the 500m and the 1000m, thereby qualifying for the World Sprint Championships, but he was also able to skate a personal best of 35.23 in the 500m. ‘I did not expect to win the 500m, although I knew I had a shot at becoming Canadian sprint champion overall. However, it should be noted that if Mike Ireland’s fall had not taken him out of the running, he would have been the 500m and overall sprint champion for Canada. Still, my good results in the 500m definitely made it a lot easier for me to qualify, as originally I had expected to have to use my 1000m race to gain a spot for World Sprints.’ On top of winning the 500m and the 1000m Morrison won the 1500m, a distance he only skated ‘for the hell of it’, since his focus was on qualifying for the World Sprints. Nevertheless, he emphasizes that his races are still far from being perfect: ‘There is always room for improvement. The only race I would describe as excellent, was my first 500m. However, that time was from the outer lane, so I expected an even better time from the inner lane, which I failed to achieve, so it was disappointing. The 1000m, although an OK race, had lots of room for improvement: in the opener, in skating better during the first lap, and to die less in the last lap. The 1500m was a good race. At 1:43 it’s hard to call it anything less than good, I guess. However, by the end of the season, I want each of my lap times to be at least two tenths faster, including the opener, and especially the last lap needs to be at least three tenths faster, but preferably more of course. But given the fact that this 1500m was skated after three very intense races, I am quite pleased with it.’
After qualifying for all the important championships, the only problem now is how he is going to fit all these competitions into in his schedule for the rest of the season. ‘Fortunately SSC has given me a spot at World All-rounds. Therefore I do not need to compete at Continentals this year, which is the weekend right before the World Sprint Championships. This is great, because it will allow me to prepare for World Sprints much better.’ Because the World Championships have the highest priority, the rest of the World Cup season is still not completely clear, although Morrison would like to skate at the World Cup Finale in Calgary. ‘And otherwise, World Single Distances Championships in Salt Lake City will be a great competition for me, I’m sure.’ Even though he indicates the World All-round Championships will be his most important tournament this season, he looks forward to skating the World Sprint Championships as well: ‘I want to race the Sprints because I know that I have potential to do well overall because of my 1000m, compared to pure sprint skaters. If I can take 0.1 or 0.2 off of my opener, it will be easy for me to break 35 seconds in the 500m and to further do better overall. By skating a few more 500m’s and working on my start throughout the next few years, I believe I can accomplish these goals. For now, I have no expectations to finish on the overall podium (but you can be sure I will try), but I think it will be great getting experience at this competition.’
All in all Morrison’s season has already brought some ups and downs. He started off with some very fast times, then did not do quite as well at the World Cups as he expected beforehand and was doubting himself for a while, but now he is looking forward with confidence once again, especially after his convincing performance at the Canadian Single Distances Championships: ‘Now that I have my new equipment, it is like day and night. I was second-guessing myself for a while, but now I’m feeling more comfortable than ever on my new blades. I am once again skating like I was last year. It certainly gives me confidence for later this season. The excellent races are still to come.’
