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Marcel Lacroix and Denny Morrison teaming up for another season – Part I

Long track speed skating coach Marcel Lacroix looks back on an extraordinary season. Several skaters on his team were very successful at the World Cups and Denny Morrison, also coached by Lacroix, managed to finish his season with a victory in the 1500m at the World Single Distances Championships in Nagano in March and on top of that he skated to a new world record in that same distance just a couple of days later at the ING Finale in Calgary. With the pre-Olympic season about to begin, Lacroix and Morrison reflect on the past season and look forward to the next, which will bring a change in the way the Canadian teams are organized, but will not break up Team Lacroix-Morrison.

By Jolanda Abbes

Marcel Lacroix’s past season has been a good one. As one of the coaches of the Canadian Team Pursuit teams he saw the Canadian women win the overall World Cup title and take home a silver medal from the World Single Distances Championships in Nagano. Moreover, among the speed skaters on his team was Christine Nesbitt, who had an incredible start to her season and won numerous gold and silver medals at the Fall World Cups. And even though Denny Morrison had a bit of a rough start to his season, he managed to finish it in style by claiming his first world title and skating to his first world record, both in the 1500m.

Still, Lacroix does look back on some disappointments. Even though Nesbitt (23) started out her season very successfully, she was not able to finish it the way she had hoped for. Lacroix reflects: “She skated so well all season long up to Berlin and was on her way to winning her first World Cup title. Unfortunately she got injured and that prevented her from being able to finish the season the same way she started it.” As a result, she had to settle for a fourth place in the 1000m, a fifth place in the 1500m and a twelfth place in the 5000m at the World Single Distances Championships, which may be considered slightly disappointing results after her World Cup medals in the 1000m and 1500m earlier that season.

After having been Nesbitt’s coach ever since she was still a member of the Canadian Junior Team, Lacroix had to say goodbye to her as one of his team members at the end of last season because of a regrouping of the Canadian teams. Lacroix is now coaching the middle distance men, but he is confident that Nesbitt’s new team will lead her to another successful year: “Without that injury that slowed her down, who knows what would have been her results in Nagano. As for this season, I know she will have a great one. She trained really well this past summer under the guidance of Ingrid Paul, and teaming up with Brittany Schussler will only help her – both actually – achieve some great results this season.”

The underlying thought of the regrouping of the teams was to put athletes together that more or less have the same physique and specialization. Lacroix explains: “It’s a simple concept that was put forward by our High Performance Director at the end of last season. Regrouping a certain amount of skaters of the same profile (physiological…) can only enhance the performances of those teaming up. Two seasons away from the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver the focus needs to be more towards specialization.” Lacroix’s team now consists of Jay and Denny Morrison, Lucas and Mykola Makowsky, Jeff Kitura, Adam McCabe, Steven Elm and Philippe Riopel.

Riopel (20), who was presented with the ‘Rising Star Award – Long Track’ by Speed Skating Canada in June 2007, won a gold medal in the 500m at last season’s Junior Worlds and skated to several junior Canadian records over the course of his last year as a junior. Lacroix looks forward to coaching Riopel: “Phil is basically a very young talented skater that hopefully will be able to produce some good results in the years to come. The name of the game for Phil at the moment is ‘patience’ and he knows that. As a veteran coach I’ve gained a lot of experience with young talented athletes. Not too long ago I was coaching our Junior Team composed of Denny Morrison, Justin Warsylewicz, Dustin Johnston, Brittany Schussler, Christine Nesbitt and Shannon Rempel, and I accumulated a lot of comprehension on what a young gun can accept in terms of load (training). So, Phil is a long-term project and if he sticks to it, who knows what he’ll be able to do. Time will tell.”

One of Lacroix’s athletes that saw his patience rewarded this season, is Denny Morrison (23). After finishing the 2006-2007 season with his first World Cup victory, he managed to add two more World Cup gold medals and numerous silver and bronze ones last season and on top of that he finished the 2007-2008 season as world champion and world record holder in the 1500m; a distance that he, up to that point, had never won internationally. Morrison recognizes Lacroix’s contribution to his successes: “Marcel is the backbone of my success as a speed skater. He has actually changed my life with the things I have learned from him as my coach.”

Although Morrison finished the season with a world title and a world record, performances that represent Lacroix’s highlights of the season, the start of his season did not necessarily seem to indicate that he was on his way to his best season ever. After a crossover problem in his first 1000m at the first World Cup in Salt Lake City and a fall in the 1500m at the second World Cup in Calgary, Morrison saw himself faced with a rocky start to his season: “My season ended off better than I was even expecting. The start of the season, however, was a different story. I had very high expectations and I was initially very disappointed. My initial goal of winning a World Cup overall distance title was refocused on winning a World Single Distance title. Now I look back on the setbacks early in the season as a blessing in disguise.”

Still, despite the great disappointment of these early races, one of the unfortunate performances actually was an indication for his coach that Morrison had matured as an athlete and as a result was probably on his way to a very good season. Lacroix: “One big race for me as a coach that showed me Denny was on his way to a great season was his 1500m at the World Cup in Calgary. He toed into the ice at the start, fell over, got up and did what he was supposed to do. To race to his best, no matter the circumstances. That said a lot to me at that point.”

So all in all it has been a good season for Lacroix, with some disappointments, but with some definite highlights as well. Next season will bring him a new team, with old faces like Denny and Jay Morrison, but with some new ones too, like Philippe Riopel and Lucas Makowsky. Time will tell how Lacroix’s new team will perform this upcoming year, but one of the athletes that will probably be worth watching closely no matter what, is Denny Morrison.

Click here for part II of this story, in which Morrison talks about his world record and reveals how he looks forward to the season to come. Moreover, Lacroix explains that despite Morrison’s development over the past year, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Photo credits: DESGphoto/Lars Hagen

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