Records to fall at long track World Cup in Calgary

There will be no easing into the 2015-16 season for speed skaters competing at this weekend's first long track World Cup race in Calgary. Instead, there will be many personal bests and probable national records. Even world records are a possibility. 

Thank the weather. With a chinook expected Friday, the Olympic Oval ice will be at its best. The warm dry wind brings a change in barometric pressure which usually brings greater speeds and a better chance the records will fall. 

In the 5,000 metres, look for Norway's Sverre Pedersen. He broke the unofficial world record in the men's 3K last weekend during a training race, so the talk has been that he'll be the 5K record Friday.‎ But can he beat the Dutch domination of this distance?

Dutch superstars Sven Kramer and Jorrit Bergsma have said that if conditions are right the record will fall — and both of them are keen to do it. Kramer, who won the world championships in Calgary last year (and who is often mistaken in Canada for Sidney,) didn't win the Dutch trials prior to the World Cups and is looking for redemption. But he'll face tough competition from Bergsma, who upset Kramer at the 2014 Sochi Olympics in the 10K and earlier this year in the lead up to Calgary.

Drama in the sprints

The male sprinters are all chasing Russian's Pavel Kulizhnikov. He is the reigning world sprint champion, and the world singles gold medallist in the 500 and silver in the 1,000. He raced to personal bests this past weekend and has shown he is still the one to beat. 

The women's sprinters were dominated last year by the red, white and blue of Americans Brittany Bowe and Heather Richardson. Bowe was world sprint champion, world singles champion in the 1,000 and 1,500, and silver in the 500. Richardson, who is married to Bergsma and lives in Holland, was gold at world singles in the 500, and silver in the 1,000 and world sprint championships. The times they've posted in training races show they are ready to defend their titles.

But Dutch skater Jorien Ter Mors, back after a year off, could add a little drama to the mix.

Ter Mors made history in 2014 when she became the first woman to compete in both short track and long track at an Olympics Games. After finishing fourth at the Sochi Olympics in the short track 1,500, she turned around and the next day won gold in the same distance in long track! But competing in so many events — at least five — she was exhausted mentally and physically, and took a year-long break.

And now she's back. She raced at the Toronto short track World Cup last weekend, then hopped on a plane to Calgary for this weekend's event. She won the Dutch trials in the 1,000 so the world knows she could be a podium threat. 

Mass start could help Canada

The announcement by the ISU that the mass start will be an official event in 2018 was embraced by Canada's Ivanie Blondin. She won the silver medal at world singles last season and would love to stand on the podium with a gold here in Canada to start off this 2015-16 season. She came from short track and loves the strategy and the competitiveness of the mass start which is a highlight for spectators. Her biggest competitor will be from, no surprise, the Netherlands: Irene Schouten. 

The Canadian team has taken some steps forward with the hiring of coach Kevin Crockett, who won bronze in the 500 behind Jeremy Wotherspoon at the Nagano Games in 1988. His hiring brought Will Dutton out of retirement; he recently posted a personal best in that same distance. There was great competition at the national trials in September with Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, Laurent Dubreuil, Gilmore Junio, and Dutton. On the women's side, Heather McLean also shattered her personal best and so perhaps the sprinters in Canada are once again going to make a statement on the international scene. 

It will be an exciting and fast weekend of racing in the Olympic city of Calgary!