Coach adds international flavour to Canadian speed skating team

Since taking the job of coaching the sprint athletes on Canada's long track speed skating team, Kevin Crockett has sought to add a little international flavour to the mix.

In an effort to raise the performances of his skaters in the 500- and 1,000-metre events, Crockett has imported foreign athletes to train alongside them, hoping their skills rub off.

Among the international standouts Crockett has brought to Calgary, with the support of Speed Skating Canada, are 500m world record holder Sang-Hwa Lee, who he helped guide to 2014 Olympic gold in his former job as a coach with South Korea's national team. There's also Finnish Olympian Mika Poutala, who missed a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games by a mere four hundredths of a second.

"I couldn't see success in the Canadian  program without bringing in some international athletes," Crockett said from Salt Lake City, where he's preparing for this weekend's World Cup event. "Speed Skating Canada really bought it." 

Another of Crockett's imports isn't as accomplished but possesses an elite skill that his athletes can benefit from.

"Maki Tsuji has the best top speed out of any [woman training in Calgary]. My Canadian girls were chasing her down when she first got here, and now they can skate with her. Now they're going after Sang-Hwa."

A 'well-oiled machine'

Crockett, who changed his last name from Overland to honour his deceased grandfather, knows what it takes to compete at the highest level. He won an Olympic bronze medal in the 500m in 1998 in Nagano.

"I can relate to the stress that the athletes are under," he said. "I know what they feel, I know what they go through. I lived that life for a long time. 

"I just try to create a well-oiled machine with the team I put together. It takes care of itself. I just guide."

Crockett's most successful Canadian athlete at this point is Will Dutton of Humboldt, Sask., who returned from a very brief retirement to win bronze and silver medals in the 500m races at the World Cup season opener in Calgary last weekend. He also trains Calgary's Gilmore Junio, who was a fourth-place finisher in his hometown, as well as Winnipeg's Heather McLean and Marsha Hudey of White City, Sask., who were on the bronze-winning women's pursuit team.

Heading into this season, Canada's sprint program seemed to be in a rebuilding phase, in search of someone to step up in the absence of Olympic medallist Denny Morrison after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash.

Now the goals of the Canadian athletes have changed a bit.

Crockett thinks Dutton can challenge Russia's Pavel Kulizhnikov, the 21-year-old world champion who owned both of the men's 500m races in Calgary.

They'll face each other again this weekend in Salt Lake City.

"I don't feel like the Russian is unbeatable," says Crockett. "Will was retired and didn't even train all summer. With what he's already done in his first race back, he has a chance. There's still so much there."