Racing to her Olympic goal Short-track is her long-term target
By Gary D’Amato of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Sept. 7, 2009 10:20 p.m.
As a young member of the West Allis Speedskating Club, Alyson Dudek trained on the 400-meter oval at the Pettit National Ice Center, where she learned to appreciate the rhythm and grace of long-track skating.
She also trained on the 111-meter oval, where she learned to appreciate the unpredictable, pedal-to-the-metal craziness of racing in a pack in short-track skating.
When it came time to specialize, craziness won.
"It's the thrill that really gets me," Dudek said of short-track. "It's never boring. I never know exactly how I'm going to do or exactly what time I'm going to skate. And I actually like that. I like not knowing exactly how things are going to turn out."
Dudek, 19, of Hales Corners, will get some important answers this week, when she attempts to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The U.S. Olympic Short-Track Team Trials begin Tuesday and conclude Saturday in Marquette, Mich.
"I'm excited, I really am," Dudek said. "I wasn't able to skate in the last Olympic trials because I was too young. This is so new to me. I just expect myself to skate the way I know how. That's what I've been thinking going into the trials. Relax and skate the way I know how."
Dudek, 5 feet 6 inches and 125 pounds, has been a Category I short-track skater since 2003. An all-around athlete, she played fast-pitch softball and ran track for two years at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, before qualifying for the U.S. women's short-track training program.
She moved to Salt Lake City in November 2007 and finished school by taking correspondence classes online.
Dudek trains at the Utah Olympic Oval with two-time national champion Katherine Reutter and Olympians Kimberly Derrick and Allison Baver. She also has benefited from watching Apolo Anton Ohno, the winner of five Olympic medals and the face of American short-track speedskating.
"It's really interesting watching him race," Dudek said. "He has so much experience. I'm one of the younger ones on the team, so all this stuff is new to me. Just watching him make some passes, it's like, 'Wow, how did he manage to do that? And how can I do that?' "
Being around accomplished skaters has helped Dudek, but they're all fighting for the same thing - spots on World Cup and Olympic teams and positions on the podium - so much of what she has learned, she has learned on her own.
"It's not anything selfish," she said. "Nobody is cold. Everybody is pretty welcoming. They're your teammates and you want them to do well, but at trials you really are for yourself."
Anyone who has watched short-track knows the races aren't always won by the fastest skaters, though speed certainly helps. There is a strategy and an art to racing in a pack, and luck is a factor. It's a bit like NASCAR on ice, and crashes are part of the deal.
"There's never a dull moment," Dudek said. "You're constantly racing, and crazy things are happening."
Three other Wisconsin athletes qualified for the Olympic trials: Katie Welsh of Wausau and Daniel and Alaina Fiorenza of Merrill.
All skaters will compete in a nine-lap time trial Tuesday at the Berry Events Center at Northern Michigan University. The top 16 men and top 16 women advance to a four-lap time trial for seeding purposes.
Skaters then compete in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. There is no competition Thursday.
The trials actually are the initial stage for Olympic team selection. The top five men and top five women are named to the 2009-'10 U.S. World Cup team and then qualify for the three individual Olympic starting positions based on results from fall World Cup races.
"I've been training very hard," Dudek said. "It's hard to say what my chances are because it's short-track. Anything can happen. I just really want to try to relax and have fun. That's what this is about."
I hope so!
