Lucasmakowsky.com
Website of Canadian speed skater Lucas Makowsky
Good debut for Lucas Makowsky at World All-rounds
Lucas Makowsky can look back on some good results at the World All-round Championships that took place last weekend in Berlin. At what was his debut at the World All-rounds, he skated top 10 in the 1500m and placed 11th in the 500m and 14th in the 5000m. After these three distances he was placed 10th overall, but this proved to be not good enough to skate the final distance, the 10k, and consequently he finished 13th overall at the end of the competition. Back home in Canada, Makowsky reflects on last weekend and looks forward to the rest of his season.
By Jolanda Abbes
It was your debut at the World All-rounds. How do you look back?
“I am very satisfied with my first World All-round competition; my performance was very close to what I had expected and hoped for and I met some great people. I’m very happy with it. Even though I did not qualify to skate the World All-round Championships in Heerenveen last year, I was there with the team between World Cups, so I was able to get a taste of what it was like. Of course with the World All-rounds being in Heerenveen, the atmosphere and the energy from the crowd were next to none, so that alone gave me the drive and focus to make the team this year. Also, from competing at the World Junior Championships in 2006, the all-round format wasn’t something new to me. I enjoy the concept of the all-round format a lot!”
Are you satisfied in terms of the goals and expectations you had for the World All-rounds?
“Although I didn’t have any specific result goals, I was very happy with how I finished. Leading up to the World Cup in Hamar I had a knee injury that prevented me from training for about two weeks. At the time I was a little worried whether or not the injury and time off would affect my preparation for Worlds, but after using the World Cups in Hamar and Baselga di Pine to get back into racing, the thought never crossed my mind. I had great support from our team’s physio and massage therapists, which really helped in my preparation.”
How do you look back on the fact that you did not get to skate the 10k? “I would say my best race last weekend was my 1500m. I had a solid 500m and a pretty good 5000m on Saturday, but the 1500m was by far the most fun! I executed it like my coach (Neal Marshall) and I talked about, and being paired with Enrico Fabris made it that much better. I only started skating the 1500m as part of the Canadian team this year, so having him as a pair got me pretty excited. As for the race, I wanted to have a solid opener and get into a smooth rhythm after seeing how the ice was. I really wanted to build the second lap on the outer and then use Fabris as a chase on the last lap on the inner. He always has a strong last lap, so I wanted to use that as much as I could. Coming around the last corner we were pretty close, so I knew it was going to be a good one.” “Right now I have a few days off and then I will be preparing for the World Single Distances Championships in Nagano. Currently I am the first reserve for the 5000m, so I may or may not end up going, but should I go, then I will be prepared. If not, then all that there will be left for me this season is the Oval Finale in Calgary. There are a lot of new things planned for that competition this year, so it should be a lot of fun!” Originally written for speedskating-online Photo credits: DESGphoto/Lars Hagen
”I can’t say that I wasn’t a little disappointed not making the 10k being 10th after three distances, but in a way like last year it gave me a new drive and focus for next year. There’s always something good that can be taken out of a situation like that.” 
What would you consider to be your best race of the weekend?
What will the rest of the season look like for you and how do you look forward to that?
