Pekka Koskela’s world record speed left lasting impression on his skate blade

World's fastest 1,000-metre speed skater returns to Finland to practice outdoors

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By Hannu Hänninen
     
      "Here. Let me show you the imprint left by my rival’s blade when our skates banged together", Pekka Koskela says, producing his speed skates from their bag.
      "Right there, very close to the tip of the blade, is a notch of a couple of millimetres", Koskela says, twisting and turning the skate to find the right angle for the light to reflect from the shiny blade.
     
In a suite at a Helsinki hotel, Koskela reminisces on the events that took place a week earlier in Utah, USA.
      Koskela set a new world record of 1.07.00 in the 1,000-metre speed skating, in spite of the fact that during the first lap his skate hit that of his opponent Denny Morrison of Canada. Morrison dropped out, and Koskela was left to finish the race by himself, without anyone to push him.
     
Koskela is somewhat reluctant to speculate what his world record time might have been had the skates not collided and had his opponent been there to provide pace assistance on the second lap as well.
      "When our skates touched, it made a pretty wild sound. For a moment I lost my rhythm, and then this little doubt crept into my mind as to whether the skate would hold through the next bend, or if I was going to get projected straight into the paddings at a speed of nearly 70 kilometres an hour. Had the notch been closer to the middle of the blade, I would not have made it around the bend", Koskela explains.
      What happened must certainly have added a few fractions of a second to Koskela’s time.
     
Koskela is not accustomed to relying on pace help from his opponents.
      "That clashes with my whole competition philosophy", he says.
      There again, the new world record holder admits that on the second lap in particular, skating behind the opponent on the back straight is of significant help.
      The third peculiarity related to Koskela’s world record is the fact that he started the race on the outside lane.
      "In speed skating circles, people tend to believe that starting on the inside lane in a 1,000-metre race offers a competitor a slight advantage over his opponent", Koskela explains.
     
Koskela believes that his world record will hold up at least until the end of this season. "Well... unless someone skates under 1.07.00 tonight (Sunday) in the World Cup event in Calgary", he then adds quickly.
      "The season’s big events for the sprinters are in Heerenveen in The Netherlands and in Nagano in Japan, but the times in these events won’t match those of Salt Lake City. Even in the World Cup, after Calgary there are no other high altitude races left", Koskela comments.
      Koskela has not looked into whether breaking the world record comes with a financial reward. "I got a gold watch for it, but that’s all I know so far.”
     
Koskela gave a miss to the weekend’s Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating event in Calgary. "This had been agreed on with my coach Aimo Klemetsö even before the beginning of the season."
      "Already a few years ago someone wise advised me not to try to compete in every single event there is", Koskela recalls, emphasising the importance of rest.
     
In Calgary, Koskela’s good friend Mika Poutala improved Koskela’s Finnish record in the 500-metre sprint from 34.50 to 34.39 on Saturday.
      “That was great. The main thing is to shave off fractions from the Finnish record to get it closer to the fastest times in the world", Koskela says.
      Koskela will remain in Finland until the beginning of December, practicing either in Helsinki’s Oulunkylä district, or more likely in the western city of Seinäjoki.
     
As Finland lacks an indoor speed skating arena, all outdoor ice rinks are of interest to Koskela.
      "Oh, by the way, have they opened the seasonal ice rink in Helsinki's Railway Square yet?" he jokes.
      The answer is no. The ice park will not open until the 1st of December.
      And it is hardly a venue for 70km/hour speed skating.
     
Helsingin Sanomat /First published in print 19.11.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Speed skater Koskela enjoys excellent weekend in Nagano (11.12.2006)

Links:
  ISU Speed Skating

HANNU HÄNNINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hannu.hanninen@hs.fi