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Olympic Champion Hedrick Returns
By Kori Novak // U.S. Speedskating // January 31, 2008
Hamar, Norway, January 27, 2008 - America's Chad Hedrick, Olympic
gold, silver and bronze medalist, has spent some time in the shadows
over that last year, conspicuously absent from his previously familiar
position on the medals podium of speedskating's international World
Cup circuit. That all changed yesterday as the big Texan took the
silver medal in the grueling 10,000m event in 13:11.20, just 1.59
seconds behind Norwegian winner Harvard Bokko. An errant cross-over
exchange with Dutchman Bob de Jong late in the race appeared that it
may cost Hedrick a podium appearance but he recovered, rallied back
and narrowly missed the gold medal.
"If not for the crossover with Bob (de Jong) I know I could have won
this race. I'm not sure what happened there but it just goes to show
that anything can happen in a race. You never know. You've just got to
skate hard through the (finish) line and let the official sort out the
rest. I'm really happy with the silver. We've worked harder than ever
before this year and now it's starting to pay off."
In late summer, Hedrick and the US Speedskating team transitioned to a
new coach, Belgium's Bart Veldkamp. Born in The Netherlands, Veldkamp
is a multiple Olympic medalist who, like Hedrick, seemed to grow
stronger the longer the race distance. Some questioned the pairing of
Hedrick and Veldkamp early in the season, as Hedrick
uncharacteristically failed to win medals in the first half of the year.
"Last summer Bart convinced me to try his training program and we
began to make a lot of technical changes to my skating. It was really
taking a step back, in hopes of taking two steps forward. It was
particularly hard earlier in the season. I guess I'm used to winning
so when I didn't it was a struggle to stick with it. But the goal all
along was to be in peak shape at the end of the season, when it
matters most. To skate like this today is a big weight off my
shoulders and it confirms that all the hard work we put in earlier
this year is all coming together now. I just raced 10,000 meters and
I feel great. I'm ready to go again!"
Hedrick and the rest of the World Cup circuit will move on to Baselga
di Pine, Italy for a middle distance competition on beginning February 2.
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