Hold on to your britches folks and watch the ice chips fly! I believe we are about to witness the next technical revolution in ice speedskating. And who will we have to credit? Well, none other than Chad Hedrick himself, of course! The 50-time World Champion and the most familiar name in the world of inline speedskating took to the ice last year to pursue a new goal: Olympic Gold! Following in the push strokes of KC Boutiette, Derek Parra, Jennifer Rodriguez, and other inliners who have since made a successful transition to ice, Chad faced the daunting task of transforming his unique yet powerful technique on wheels to speed and efficiency on the ice. So far so good! Chad capped his 2002 season by setting world class times in both the 1500m and 5K. Clearly, Chad possesses the horsepower and determination to reach the highest levels, and I believe he has the potential to surpass the achievements of other wheeled athletes who have set forth before him.

But Chad’s transition has been somewhat unique. Largely credited as the founder of the double-push technique, Chad’s form on wheels is anything but conventional. He unknowingly revolutionized the way inliners skate, and became the one athlete that everyone with technical aspirations wanted to emulate. The double-push method of skating changed the mechanical character of the sport, and I have been studying, writing about, teaching, and preaching the virtues of double-push skating for almost 10 years now.

For those of you who don’t have an understanding what double-push is all about, here’s the skinny. Classic speedskating technique relies on an alternating sequence of push, glide, and recovery. Body weight is transferred back and forth during this process, and forward propulsion is achieved by extending the leg outwards to the side. The glide phase is STATIC (no motion), and provides an opportunity to regroup the pushing leg as the body weight begins to shift. With the double-push technique, the glide phase becomes ACTIVE as the support leg performs a short, rapid push under the body before it arcs back out into the regular push. The result is a more even and regular production of force, while speed and momentum are conserved. The supplemental underpush means that one does not have to exert as much effort during the regular push. For example, if you produce 150 watts of power during a classic push, the same velocity can be achieved with a push of 100 watts, and an underpush of 50 watts. There are numerous other practical and theoretical advantages of double-push skating, but we’ll leave that for another more detailed article.

Since I began analyzing this technique, I have also been making efforts to educate my fellow dual-sport compatriots that the double-push does work on ice. Granted, the movement is much more subtle due to the physical difference of an elliptical wheel on asphalt versus a sharp, square bottom blade on ice. However, many of the mechanical characteristics that define double push – those that make it a more effective method for generating forward propulsion – can be selectively applied to ice skating. But few would believe me, and few would even listen. Those from the inline community lacked the knowledge of ice mechanics to comprehend what I was saying, and those from the ice were so skeptical from the outset that they wouldn’t even think about it. My suggestion that a superior way of ice skating may exist was largely regarded as sacrilegious, blasphemous.

Ice technique and the sport itself is rich in history and tradition. From the coaches and athletes to the administrators and sport governing bodies, everyone seemed fearful and intimidated by the growing influx of wheeled athletes merging into their sport. One of Canada’s most foremost authors on sport development once wrote “It takes 8-10 years of training and preparation for an individual to reach the elite level in any sport”. And while this sentiment carries weight when starting from a blank slate, it simply doesn’t hold true when a successful inline athlete moves to the ice. Inliners continue to prove that talented athletes can become world class ice speedskaters in as few as two seasons!

KC Boutiette was the first inliner to break into the top level of long track ice skating, followed closely by Jennifer Rodriguez. Then there was Derek Parra who made the transition, capturing Olympic Gold in the 1500 event at the 2002 Winter Olympic in Salt Lake City. So when I first learned that Chad was taking to the ice, I knew that the U.S. would have their next champion IF Chad proved able to adapt his inline double-push technique to ice. Knowing that the double-push can be modified for ice, there was little doubt in my mind that Chad would excel. I also knew that his success and the way he skates would open many eyes, raise eyebrows, and stimulate debate and discussion within the ice community. Skeptics, step aside! The King is on the track and is about to revolutionize the way everyone looks at efficiency and technique on ice.

While I haven’t seen Chad skate on the ice in person, I have observed and analyzed him skating a 5K race last winter. His technique is more or less ‘classic ice’ with a hint of his wheeled form until roughly the 5:20 mark of the race (which he finished in 6:35.19). Whether he consciously changed gears or not I don’t know, but there is a distinct change in his body position, recovery, and edge mechanics at this point, as he begins to open a convincing gap on his Norwegian rival. The change in technique is accompanied by an overall increase in tempo (stride frequency), and Chad did what few skaters are able to do in a 5K race! Normally skaters begin to fatigue and lap times begin to slow in the closing 1500. Chad skated an incredibly consistent race, and even brought his lap times down to the high 30’s and low 31’s in the final 3 laps. I find it noteworthy to point out that he seems to have switched to a more defined double-push technique once his lap times topped out at 32 flat. From this point forward he brought his lap times back down, and there is little doubt that mechanically he was skating double push.

I read the following comment on racereports.net regarding Chad on ice. It stated ‘Some ice people are saying that if Chad learns to skate properly, he could be the world’s best’. While I agree with the comment about Chad one day being the World’s best, personally I believe that his double-push on ice will assist him, rather than pose a hindrance. In the summer of 1996 I had a conversation with Paul Hedrick, Chad’s father and coach. Chad had attended a number of inline training camps, and some of the top coaches in the U.S. declared that Chad would never be a world class skater if he couldn’t break some of his bad habits. They were referring to his unorthodox technique, which we now know is the most powerful double-push in the World. And look where it took him! In my opinion, any ice coach who tries to discourage Chad from incorporating some of these same skills on ice is a fool! This isn’t to say that his ice technique doesn’t need some tweaking. While they look similar, ice and inline are very different sports in terms of preparation, training and race strategy. But the double-push style has proven to be faster and more efficient on wheels, and while the specific application of the technique on ice is considerably different, it only stands to reason that some of the same mechanical advantages can be realized on ice. Chad likely has one of the most highly developed systems of kinesthetic feedback of any athlete in the world. That is to say that he probably doesn’t need to be told what is faster, he will FEEL what is faster on his own! I just hope that his coaching staff grant him the leeway to use this keen bodily sense to guide him.

It’s somewhat ironic that even as a respected writer and sport scientist few would heed my words about the application of double-push on ice until Chad showed them that it CAN be done. But I guess actions really do speak louder than words in most cases.

My prediction is that Chad’s success will result in a systematic re-thinking of the science of human propulsion on blades, and hopefully bring the two distinct but related sports of ice and inline closer together. Close on the heels of this will be yet another re-invention of the ice blade. Clap skates (those with a free heel) forever changed the face of long track skating by adding a mechanical component. I believe that the properties of an ice blade are important for allowing a skater to incorporate components of the double-push into their ice skating technique. Subtle changes in the radius, thickness, and edge profile of the steel runner may facilitate the application of certain beneficial characteristics. I, for one, hope to experiment with such designs this winter. In the meantime, I will watch Chad tear up the track in the upcoming World Cup circuit! Watch out World, the King is on the ice! Editor’s Note: Chad just won his first World Cup gold in the 3000m while setting a track record in Heerenveen!

Caption for photo: Can Chad repeat his domination on ice? Photo © Harm de Boer

Barry Publow and Breakawayskate are coordinating a second inline to ice transition camp in Lake Placid, New York the weekend of January 24-25. Details at www.breakawayskate.com