Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - We're in the final week of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with the event set to wrap up on Sunday in China. For two weeks now, a number of athletes from all over the world have competed for the right to not only represent their country, but also represent the sport they play by winning gold.
One event that has already completed most of its events with three days left in competition is long-track speedskating, with medals still to be given out in the Women's 1,000-meter race on Thursday, the Men's 1,000-meter race on Friday, and both the Men's and Women's Mass Start event on Saturday.
Meanwhile, short-track speedskating is set to hold its final events on Wednesday, with medals still to be won in the Men's 5,000-meter relay, as well as the Women's 1,500-meter race.
Whether it happens to be short-track or long-track speedskating, it is a sport of speed, endurance, balance, and determination to get out front and stay ahead of the competition.
As it happens to be, speedskating has been quite popular in the City of Buffalo dating back more than 50 years.
"The Buffalo Speedskating Club has been around in various incarnations for over 50 years, and this was back in a time before really hockey was a big sport in Buffalo. Speedskating was the ice sport," said coach Alan Jay of the Buffalo Speedskating Club. "It used to be absolutely huge. There were meets held on the ice rink in Delaware Park. ... Our club now, we're very proud to carry on the speedskating tradition that Buffalo has had for so long."
The Buffalo Speedskating Club is a short-track speedskating club with members from both the Western New York region and Southern Ontario.
The sport's history in Buffalo dates back to the 1930s when Buffalo native Catherine "Kit" Klein won gold and bronze medals at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, where women's speed skating was a demonstration sport. Continuing through the '40s, '50s, and '60s, the speedskating scene in Buffalo was very prevalent with five different clubs and hundreds of members.
However, in the 1970s, interest in the sport waned with the introduction of the Buffalo Sabres and hockey becoming the ice sport of choice.
Despite interest in the sport having taken a hit over the years, the club today has a very active membership with about 28 members as of now. Members of the club range between the age of six and 80-years-old, with all ages, levels and years of experience welcomed to the club.
Right now, the club's main home is located at the North Buffalo Ice Rink on Tacoma Avenue. With the closest long-track rink being in Lake Placid, the group is a short-track club, though a few members do skate both and will compete in long-track events elsewhere.
Jay is one of five coaches that help run operations at the Buffalo Speedskating Club, and acknowledges that short-track and long-track speedskating, generally, is unique from hockey and figure skating. However, it is not difficult to learn no matter what your age.
"We have a learn-to-skate program. It's a three-session program, and people can come for any three practices that they'd like and it costs $50," Jay said. "Anybody who can skate around the rink and come to a stop is welcome to join us, and we can teach them how to speed skate. ... It's learning how to skate short-track speedskating. and again, we have a specific program to do that."
While the popularity surrounding speedskating has lost its luster over the years, the Olympics is always a perfect time for people locally to get their interest peaked in giving the sport a try.
"Every four years, we always see an influx of new skaters," Jay said. "We're very excited when the Olympics come around, because we love to have new skaters join us. To give you an example: This year so far, in the last few weeks, we've had nine new skaters to give it a try, and we already have a few skaters scheduled to join us in the next couple of weeks. So every Olympic year - every four years - there's definitely a lot more interest, because it is a niche sport, and it's not very well-known. For most people, it's not on the radar until the Olympics come around, so we're really excited when the Olympics are here."
Arguably, the top-ranked American speedskater in the world right now is Erin Jackson, who was able to come away with a gold medal in Beijing while competing in the Women's 500-meter race in long-track competition. Also on the long-track oval, the United States won a bronze medal in the Men's Team Pursuit Final back on Tuesday.
As it stands right now in Beijing, a total of three speed skaters are competing for the United States have taken part in meets held by the Buffalo Speedskating Club in Buffalo. Julie Letai and Maame Biney are a pair of short-track team members with the U.S., while Ethan Cepuran was one of the speedskating team members to win bronze in the Men's Team Pursuit.
"That's always exciting to watch up-and-coming skaters, because we never know who's going to make the Olympics," Jay said. "In addition, we've also had a number of national team, junior national team and World Cup skaters that have come through Buffalo at our meets on their way to greater things."
Every year, the Buffalo Speedskating Club has the privilege's of hosting the largest regional meet in the country.
"We welcome 150 skaters every October for a short-track speedskating meet, and that's held at the Northtown Center in Amherst," Jay explained. "This year, the meet is Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15 through 16, and we have skaters that come throughout the East and Midwest, and also from Ontario."
While the winter and colder months only last so long in Western New York, the Buffalo Speedskating Club offers more fun activities and other events throughout the year, trying to get more people interested in the sport of speedskating.
"In the spring and summer time, we have a dry land program, which is off-ice exercises. That's available free of charge to anybody in the community," Jay said. "It's great for skaters, both ice and inline, bicyclists, runners, anybody who's looking for just a really fun workout. It's a coached workout, and we have three sessions. Starting in May and June, we're at Chestnut Ridge on Monday evenings. On Wednesdays, we have a track program [at the Amherst High School track], and on Thursdays we have a plyometrics program, a jump program at Delaware Park. That's available for anyone, whether they've skated with us or not."
Anyone who's interested in more information regarding the club and other activities associated with the Buffalo Speedskating Club, people are encouraged to visit them at their website, buffalospeedskating.org. There are also speedskating clubs for people interested in both the Rochester and Syracuse areas.
"We absolutely love showing people our Olympic sport, and it's a sport that people can skate throughout their entire lives," Jay said. "People don't necessarily have to compete to enjoy it. We have quite a few recreational skaters, who come just for the fun, the camaraderie and the exercise, and just learning a new skill. That said, we do have a very active competitive group, and there's opportunities for people that want to compete to race all over the country and in Canada."
You can listen to our entire conversation with Jay below:
