No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice.
The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a short lived indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Within the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician accountable for the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one in all the fastest tracks on the earth with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that have to work one thin layer of ice at a time for the reason that end of October at the brand new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjoining trade fair halls in the town of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one in all the most important challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview lower than two weeks into the method.
Ice Master Mark Messer poses within the stadium where the speed skating competitions will happen on the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on the outskirts of Milan, Italy.
AP Photo/Luca Bruno
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice can be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice can be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be excellent, it should be hard, cold and clean. And really, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there’s some dirt, the blade will lose the sting,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager on the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the identical for all skaters — after which if it’s fast ice, a lot the higher.
“It’s more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,” he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the primary time speedskating was held indoors.
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“That gave us some benefits because we didn’t should worry in regards to the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said.
Canadian national long track speed skating team members train on the ice on the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alta., Friday, June 11, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Now Messer is upping the challenge by becoming the primary ice master to construct a short lived rink for the Olympics.
Before he arrived in Italy, employees spent weeks establishing insulation to level the ground after which a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that’s brought all the way down to -7 or -8 C to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it will probably’t be too pure, or the ice that forms might be too brittle. Just the fitting amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The primary layers of water are applied slowly, with a twig nozzle; after the ice reaches a number of centimeters it’s painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The primary one takes about 45 minutes. After which as soon because it freezes, we return and do it again, and many times. So we do it a whole lot of times,’’ Messer said.
Because the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, employees apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which might cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they’ll go so far as possible with the smallest amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a brand new surface.
Olympic Oval ice maker Mark Messer drives the backup ice cleansing machine during a break within the motion at the boys’s 500m long track speedskating event on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Winter Games.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes within the temporary rink.
One other is getting the ice to the fitting thickness in order that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“Once you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it should move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
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Final adjustments
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event.
In a everlasting rink, test events are frequently held a yr before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We now have a really small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the boys’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a bit of soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start out, now we are able to start to alter the temperatures and take a look at to make it faster and still maintain it as a secure ice,’’ he said.
High-quality-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature should be done methodically — taking into consideration that there might be 6,000 spectators within the venue for every event.
The subsequent real test might be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for his or her first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is completed but the toughest part is the last 20 percent, where we have now to try to seek out the values and the best way of running the equipment so all of the skaters get the identical conditions and all of the skaters get one of the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
