Vanessa Herzog

Vanessa Herzog interview: “It seems we made something right in preparation for the season.”

Long track speed skater Vanessa Herzog talks about her current form, and what’s led her to three ISU World Cup podiums in a season that’s barely got started.

Vanessa Herzog

Vanessa Herzog interview: “It seems we made something right in preparation for the season.”

Long track speed skater Vanessa Herzog talks about her current form, and what’s led her to three ISU World Cup podiums in a season that’s barely got started.

“Of course early successes are a great mental boost.”

By Matt 15 Dec 2018

I’m not going to talk to Vanessa Herzog about sandwich fillings because, for one thing, she’ll rightly demand to be interviewed by a proper journalist and for another, it’s not a very good metaphor.

I mean it is a metaphor. Just not a good one.

Because really it’s the bread around the filling that I want to get into (stay with me here okay?) not so much the bit in the middle. Even though Vanessa Herzog has had some success at the in-line competitions this summer (like biathletes, speed skaters get their summer kicks on wheels), it is the end of the last speed skating season and the start of this one – on-ice racing – that make the standout features. Or from a calendar-year perspective, the early months of 2018 and the tail end of it. Whichever way you turn it, it’s the same.

Sort of like a sandwich.

Actually, I’m warming to this metaphor.

Vanessa Herzog World Cup winner
Austrian Long Track Speed Skater Vanessa Herzog on the ice

Okay, alright – let’s cool it with the culinary euphemisms and move on to something more literal. There are facts to look at here and nothing in Vanessa Herzog’s recent form needs painting in figurative prose. Just take a look at the ISU Speed Skating results and you’ll see that the Austrian flyer is a regular feature.

A strong 17/18 season finished on a flourish. World Cup podiums in Belarus, Germany and Canada were highlights alongside a gold and silver at the European Championships in Russia in January. Vanessa finished fifth in the 1000m at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and four days later she went one better in the 500m – one tantalising step off the Olympic podium. The book of Vanessa Herzog medals is hardly a leaflet.

“To us it seems that our whole system comes together pretty well and therefore the results are where we want them to be. Skating in sprint is a matter of one one-hundredth of a second and the slightest variations can make a huge difference. It seems we made something right in preparation prior to the season.”

In her response Vanessa is beautifully understated, The truth is, if you want to know how to ice skate in a straight line, watch Vanessa Herzog; if you want to know how to ice skate on the bends, watch Vanessa Herzog. In fact, if you want to know how to ice skate anywhere, at speed, watch Vanessa Herzog.

A spread of summer success on the in-line skating circuit separated the end of last season and the start of this, but otherwise it’s like Vanessa has never been away. This year’s results look set to continue very much where she left off.

Still in its early stages, the 18/19 season has already delivered two World Cup wins among six podium finishes for Vanessa, not to mention track records over 500m in Poland last weekend and 1000m in Japan last month. Current form, suffice to say, is blistering and as I scroll through those aforementioned ISU Speed Skating results I find myself blinking at her outstanding stats. As I said, if you want to know how to ice skate…

“Of course early successes are a great mental boost,” Vanessa says, “and therefore our personal belief is that every win makes you a little bit faster. Two years ago I had a bad season and results got worse with every defeat. This year the direction is much more preferable and I hope to keep the flow throughout the season.”

There is the season, and there is the cycle.

Pyeongchang luge silver medal winner Chris Mazdzer recently told me about the 4 year cycle around which most winter athletes revolve. He refers to it as a quad. For Chris, the goal is to skim off 27 thousandths of a second so that he can turn his Pyeongchang silver to Beijing gold. Conversely, ten-time X Games champion Lindsey Jacobellis talked to me about the Olympics as just one race among the many, but there’s a common train of thought among the world’s elite on snow and ice that says the five rings are something of a focal point.

Vanessa Herzog outdoor speed skating
Vanessa Herzog outdoor speed skating

“We do have a bigger picture,” Vanessa agrees, “since becoming an Olympic champion is the very goal of every athlete. However, we focus on every single race on the way and try to catch as many victories and records as possible.”

And for me Vanessa Herzog has the perfect attitude towards the Games. They are the highlight of the athletic calendar no doubt and one of the greatest sporting spectacles on earth – summer or winter. But the Games are a motivation, not a distraction. They are but one feature among the many on the list of ISU Speed Skating results.

Still, world cups, world and continental championships and national meets might be the bread and butter (sorry) but that four-year timer starts running as soon as the Olympic curtain falls, and it ticks away ever more loudly as the months go by.

Because despite the hundreds of races that she will contest between now and the next Winter Olympics, “There is still a countdown in our mind heading toward the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.”

Vanessa Herzog outdoor speed skating at night
Vanessa Herzog outdoor speed skating at night

There is a sense of isolation as Vanessa Herzog powers gracefully around the long track. She is the text book display of how to ice skate at a sprint. Her blades catch the light and flash a steady rhythm: slow-slow as she glides down the straight, quick-quick round the bend.

Watch a speed skater – especially in long track where there isn’t the need to keep a wary eye on crowding opponents – and you see a stare of introspection, a focus not on the ice but the air somewhere in the middle distance. To study a long track speed skater is to observe an expression of pure self-focus. As Vanessa Herzog skims the ice at speeds well in excess of 30mph (and yes that is faster than Usain Bolt) there appears to be nothing beyond her own realm.

But for all that apparent aloneness, behind the scenes of any speed skater is a bustling support team who, with their tweaks and fine-tunes, must squeeze the last vital hundredths of a second from their charge. At the head of the team is the coach, and it is a relationship that is paramount to the athlete’s success.

“In my case it’s special since my husband is my coach. That means we are 24/7 together and on the road which makes us stronger, and is a key to our success. I personally believe that every world class athlete needs very special support in order to achieve outstanding results.”

The commitment of an athlete’s support team is key. In the case of Vanessa Herzog the dedication of her team is rewarded in full: they apply the engineering, she delivers the results. At least for now – there’s a long season ahead.

But as she skates faster and climbs more podiums around the world, that Olympic title becomes less of a dream and more of a realistic end-goal.

Still, the here-and-now must be attended to. This weekend the Austrian record holder over 500m, 1000m and 1500m, goes to Heerenveen in the Netherlands with an aim to continuing her World Cup winning form. For the winter months the competitions run almost non-stop.

Coupled with the ceaseless training, Vanessa Herzog adheres to an exhausting schedule and for the up and coming young skaters out there it might seem a daunting one. And before any athlete gets even a sniff of an elite podium, they must hone their skills in tandem with a ‘normal’ life. Education, earning a living, paying for all that travel and equipment and expertise. I’ve spoken to skaters, sliders, skiers and boarders and one common denominator is this: it doesn’t come easy.

It is a reality that’s as true for speed skating as it is for any other winter sport. It’s like Chris Mazdzer told me: “You will run into adversity. You will fail at your goals and it’s all about your attitude in getting right back up and trying again.”

There are many reasons not to make a go of it as a world-class athlete. There is one very compelling reason, Vanessa Herzog says, to stick at it.

“If you are talented enough and you are 100% confident that you are capable of sustaining the hardest training you can imagine, then go for it, since it is very simply the best sport in the world.”

Vanessa Herzog World Cup Longtrack
Vanessa Herzog laughing

My thanks to Vanessa Herzog for her time in between training and travelling, and also to her husband and coach Tom Herzog for his assistance in arranging this interview. For all the ISU Speed Skating results go to https://live.isuresults.eu/home

You can keep up with Vanessa Herzog on her World Cup season at the following:

Vanessa Herzog Website: www.vanessaherzog.at

Vanessa Herzog Instagram: @vanessa.herzog

Vanessa Herzog Facebook: /Vanessa.Herzog.Speedskating

Related article: Elise Christie