SPEED SKATING: Persistence and a belief in his ability is starting to pay off for Australia’s only Olympic long track speed skater, Daniel Greig.
At the Erfurt World Cup in Germany over the weekend, Greig started putting together his jigsaw puzzle that is speed skating beinning with a 500 metres Division B silver medal on Friday night in 35.62 seconds just 0.26 behind winner Kjeld Nuis (NED), then a leap into Division A for the 1000 metres with a strong 13th place (1.10.06) on Saturday.
Greig followed up with two Division A races on Sunday, placing 20th in the 500 metres (35.70) before a short break and a 14th in the 1000m (1.10.48).
“This world cup was bitter-sweet,” Greig said.
“It was nice to get up the rankings a bit in the 1000m, especially my first 600m splits of the 1000m are looking on point for the Games.
“However, my training has been more 500m focused and that is not clicking yet. I am, of course, not peaking yet so it still has a chance to come.”
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The Erfurt World Cup also served as a qualifying event for the World Sprint Championships, which will be held in Changchun, China after the PyeongChang Games on March 3 and 4.
“One big positive of moving up into the A division again is that now I get high quality video of all my events for technical analysis,” Greig said.
The 26-year-old relocated to The Netherlands after he finished high school in a switch from inline skating to the ice to pursue his career under Australian coach Desly Hill and her strong squad of athletes.
As Greig approaches his second Olympics, Hill is more than happy with his progress.
“I'm really enjoying working with him at the moment. We are starting to see the rewards of the hard work and his training group are all flying, so it brings confidence that we are on a good track,” she said.
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After the first 1000 metre A Division race, Hill was especially impressed with the first 600 metres, saying, “he was 13th in the A with the third fastest to 600 metres. That’s good for his first time back in the A.”
The two Sunday races were not as strong as the previous days Hill said.
“It was a harder day. Dan did not get a good 500 down then with a small rest they made him do a dope control in between races. He did an OK 1000m but not as good a race as the day before. He will have a rest tomorrow, then ten days training, then to the Games.”
Belinda Noonan
OWIA
