It’s that time again. The Winter Olympics are almost here. Milano Cortina 2026 is set to begin Feb.6 and runs to Feb. 22.
Which means speed skating and cross-country skiing is about to begin. Clara Hughes, Olympic medallist in both cycling and speed skating, will definitely be watching the events. And by the way, this year, Kelsey Mitchell will be following in Hughes’ foot…erm, skate/boot steps. Mitchell, who won the Gold medal in the sprint in Tokyo, will be entering her first Winter Olympics. She joins Hughes, one of only 14 Canucks who have done both. Hughes medalled twice at the summer, and four times in the winter in speedskating. Although Mitchell did give skating a go, ultimately it was the bobsleigh that meshed with her. She will join pilot Melissa Lotholz in the two-woman bobsleigh event which takes place later in the Games.
Hughes and her winter sports
Even when the Winnipeg-born athlete stopped cycling to compete in skating, she never left her bike behind. Interestingly, it’s very common for speed skaters to train with their bike as much as possible, even during the season. “We travelled with bikes all the time because you can only skate so much. It’s such a punishing position to be in for your body and your back and the moment you fatigue, your technique goes. And when your technique goes and you keep pushing too much you can fatigue your central nervous system and get injured.”
During training for speed skating, Hughes and her teammates would run, lift weights, and of course, ride the bike. “It was the greatest tool which worked for me, obviously, and I think that, you know, compared to a lot of my competitors and even teammates. I was able to use the bike in a way that they weren’t really able to tap into because of my history of cycling.”
The speed skaters would not only travel with their bikes, but also a set of rollers. In fact, speed skaters would often warm before skating races on their trainer or rollers.
In training blocks between World Cups, Hughes would return to familiar terrain for camps to build her cardio. “We’d be in Tucson, Arizona, or Northern California and all the great places that I’ve done training as a bike racer, we would go in the springtime for volume and then we would even go in an Olympic year.”
“I’d go down for ten days to the desert and do volume, you know and get some sunshine and the outdoors. Because …
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…