Steele Set For Long Track International Debut At European Youth Countrymatch
This weekend Thomas Steele (Co. Dublin) competes in his first international competition representing Ireland in long track speed skating.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Steele began skating at a young age just like many of his peers in a country where speed skating is one of the highest profile sports. He cites Dutchman Sven Kramer, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, as an inspiration. Ice is also in his genes with his father Gary from Canada, another country with a long and proud tradition in ice sports, and his mother Susan hailing from Dublin where she learned to skate at Dolphin’s Barn ice rink, a facility that those who grew up locally recall with great fondness.
Steele started training seriously two years ago from the age of 13 with Brenda, Annewil and Rodger from the DKIJV at De Uithof in The Hague to which he commutes from his home city of Delft three days a week for on ice practices.
“On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I train for an hour and 15 minutes on ice, and I also cycle for 30 minutes before and after those training sessions. Sometimes I also do an hour and 30 minutes of cycling training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, though not usually.”
He has gradually seen his times improve to the point where he was selected to the Irish national team this season. This week he will participate in the European Youth Countrymatch, an international event organised at the ISU Centre of Excellence in Heerenveen, The Netherlands in the renowned Thialf ice stadium, which just so happens to be Steele’s favourite track. The event is open to Junior C and Junior B category skaters of European ISU members by invitation only. There will be a mandatory three-day camp in advance of the competition. All racing will take place on Saturday, 20 December. Steele is looking forward to improving his best times and flying the flag for Ireland on an international stage.
“For me, it is a great honour to be allowed to participate in big international competitions representing Ireland.”
Steele is still young in a sport where most athletes reach their prime in their mid to late twenties. His goal this week will be to learn and pick up some tips to aid his development as an athlete and as all speed skaters want to do go as fast as he can in his races. Over the next few seasons, he is aiming to progress to the standards required for entry into the ISU Junior World Cups by refining the technical skills required of elite speed skaters.
“Speed skating technique is quite complicated and takes years to master. There are three different movements: the start, the straightaways and the corners. The start is the simplest: it is similar to running, but the straightaways and the corners are very complicated movements and take a lot of time to learn properly. I think that the hardest part and most important is to not only be able to perform the movements, but also to be able to find pressure in your push.”
Right at the moment, Steele is at the beginning of discovering his potential in the sport and is enjoying the process and the incremental achievements that is bringing him.
“The best thing for me is the feeling of going fast, and how it feels to become faster. Small changes in technique can often make huge differences, and it feels amazing when all of a sudden you can make a lot of speed by changing a small detail.”
You can keep up to date with how Steele gets on at the European Youth Countrymatch here on the Ice Skating Association of Ireland’s website and social media channels.
