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Joey Mantia Breaks Down The 2018 Inline Speed Skating World Championship 1000 Meter Track Race

Inline Speed Skater July 6, 2020

World Champion inline speed skater and Olympic hopeful speed skater, Joey Mantia takes a look at the senior men’s 1000 meter race final at the 2018 World Championships of inline speed skating in Herde, Netherlands.

What he said…

“All right, let’s cover some generalities. First, it’s a thousand meters on a 200 meter track. That’s five laps. The starting line and the finishing line are in the same exact place, and this race is contested on a flat pink track. That means from the bottom of the turn or the tightest point of the corner to the highest point, or widest point of the corner, It’s the same grade all the way through, unlike a parabolic track, where it starts off flat and it’s really slick at the bottom, then dishes. That’s where the sweet spot is and then becomes really steep at the top, and has a hump coming out of the turn to help aid your momentum in the straightaway. This flat Bank has none of that. It’s only fast at the bottom and there’s really only one place to skate.”

“In terms of a specific strategy for this race, 1000 meters, if it were me, I always try to be in second place, all the way until three laps to go. First two laps I’m in second place. I’m getting sucked along not doing too much, but I’m close enough to be in a position to control the race when I need to. Then from three down to two I’m trying to make a move into first, and I will use as much energy as I need to to get there. Two laps to go, I want to be in the lead controlling rolling in running out you know what works, and then the rest is history you just try to hang on and try to keep everybody behind you for the rest of the race.”

“I’m actually a huge fan of this race because there’s so much passing going on for a thousand meters on a flat track, usually one guy gets the front and just muscles it, and it’s a boring race to watch, but this is a really exciting race. I think because there’s so much experience and it’s just really fun.”

“Andres steps out here and I think it’s because he’s feeling really good. I think he thought that he could make it around this turn, and at least get into second place by the end of the turn, because he’s feeling so fresh, and it just

doesn’t does not pay out on a flat bank track. Once you get that far off the bottom line it just gets slick, and you’ll see right here you slips ruins his momentum and that’s really tough.”

“Bart’s gonna try to close off this passing lane on Munoz, and when he does it’s gonna create a lot of contact. Well maybe not a lot, but enough contact to create some speed, and he runs into Peter Michael. Even at that speed even if you’re not trying to push somebody out, you’re gonna get that action right there. It doesn’t look like Bart did isn’t on purpose because the elbow went up, but that’s racing, that you know kind of sucks.”

“Pedro makes one bad error right here. He cuts the corner off on this red line, instead of taking this green route, floating his speed, and once he gets out of the corner then deciding which lane to cut off of the passing lane. He just heads right up the inside. I think it’s because he’s a little bit tired, could be. Usually he wouldn’t make that mistake, I don’t think otherwise, and this hawk is the second mistake he makes. Instead of pushing the toe all the way out, he keeps the wheels flat, and I think Gwendal ends up beating him by a millimeter, maybe maybe even less.”

“You can see Gwendal pushes his toe as far away as he can, and when I teach hawks, I always teach people to push the front toe as far forward as they can and the back toe as far back as they can, so you don’t end up with this type situation.”

“Two big takeaways for me from this race. One, make sure coming out of the last turn, any distance 500 all the way to a prelim, especially on the track, that you’re not cutting the exit off too tight. Don’t anticipate where your competitors are going to try to pass you. You need to come out about middle, use your peripheral vision and your hearing. Use the senses to take in information, and then decide if you need to cut off the inside lane or the outside lane, and start drifting that way. Two, on the hawks, keep that toe pointed out as far as you can, don’t point it straight to the sky. and don’t try to keep all your wheels flat to the surface. If you keep all your wheels flat, the back of your boot is gonna hinder your ability to really extend all the way out as far as you can.”

Race Results: 2018 World Championships

1. #46 Lepivert, Gwendal – FRA – Time: 1.22,566
2. #30 Causil, Pedro – COL – Time: 1.22,568
3. #36 Munoz, Andres – COL – Time: 1.23,089
4. #19 Silva Santibanez, Lucas – CHI – Time: 1.23,095
5. #41 Bolanos Villacorte, Jorge – ECU – Time: 1.23,187
6. #11 Voste, Mathias – BEL – Time: 1.23,371
7. #78 Michael, Peter – NZL – Time: 1.23,501
DQ – Swings, Bart – BEL

Make sure to check out World Champion Inline Speed Skater and Olympic Speed Skater Joey Mantia on his website and social media channels.

Watch more of his videos on the Joey Mantia YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjaCuuyv49-2d9ZH8046TDg

Follow Joey Mantia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrmantia

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