#SpeedSkating

 Havard Lorentzen and Sverre Pedersen (NOR) pictured during the ISU World Championships 2024 in Inzell (GER) @ISU

Håvard Lorentzen and Sverre Lunde Pedersen hand over Norwegian Speed Skating to a new generation. Coming from an often rainy outdoor track in Bergen, Norway, the two conquered the Speed Skating world together. After a career with ups and downs, hard work and the love for Speed Skating eventually led to world and Olympic titles. Lorentzen and Pedersen waved goodbye to the crowd at the ISU World Speed Skating Allround & Sprint Championships last week in Inzell (GER).

Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) laces his skates during the ISU World Championships 2024 Inzell (GER) @ISU

Love and hard work

Lorentzen and Pedersen have skated together At FANA IL Skating club in Bergen since they were eight years old. Together with Sindre Hendriksen, who hang up his blades in 2021, they gradually climbed up from club level to national level, and eventually to the international Speed Skating elite.

Lorentzen praises the club coaches at FANA IL:

“It’s often raining or snowing, but the coaches always provided a good training environment for us. if it wasn’t for the club coaches, I don’t think any of us would have gone on to become top skaters.”

Sverre Lunde Pedersen, Havard Lorentzen and Havard Bokko (NOR) Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 @ISU

The love for Speed Skating was their constant drive. If he were able to give his younger self any advice, this is what Pedersen would say:

“Love what you do, stay patient, work hard, listen to your body, and if you've worked hard for a long time, you will get big results.”

Lorentzen’s Inzell crash

Despite their love and hard work, Lorentzen and Pedersen both had to overcome severe setbacks before they climbed to the top of the Olympus. In October 2015 Lorentzen was preparing for the new season, when his left skate slipped away entering a corner in a fast training lap at the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell. When he hit the cushions, his left skate cut into his right leg almost from the knee to the ankle. When he looked down, the 2012 ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships was not sure whether he would be able to ever skate again.

Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) competes during the ISU World Championships 2024 in Inzell (GER) @ISU

It was the absolute low point in Lorentzen’s career. He explains:

“Laying on the couch at home for one month, watching the others skate World Cups, that wasn’t too nice. But it also helped me reflect on what I needed to improve to become a better skater."

“That summer, I trained a lot because I didn’t have any off season, I had already been on the couch for over a month. Then Jeremy (former world sprint champion Jeremy Wotherspoon, CAN) came in as a coach and he helped me grow.”

Pyeongchang pinnacle

With the former 500m world record holder as a coach, Lorentzen became the best sprinter in the world in the  2017-18 Olympic season. He says:

“Every race that season it worked. It was so easy, I would step on the ice and it was a fast race.”

Havard Lorentzen (NOR) poses during the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. @GettyImages

At the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, Lorentzen won gold in the 500m and silver in the 1000m. A month later, he took the World Sprint title in Changchun (CHN). Due to injuries, Lorentzen never managed to find his 2018 rhythm again, but he still managed to add 500m silver at the ISU World Speed Skating Single Distance Championships 2019 in Inzell, and Olympic 1000m bronze at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

“To have 1-2-3 at the Olympics and 1-2-3 at the World Sprint Championships (silver in 2017 and bronze in 2022) is definitely something I’m very proud of,” he says.

Beating Kramer in Inzell

While Lorentzen celebrated his best season in 2018, Pedersen experienced the toughest loss of his career that very same year. As the anchor of the Norwegian Team Pursuit squad he conquered Olympic gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, but individually he had to settle for 5000m bronze.

At the 2018 World Allround Chanmpionships, Pedersen was on his way to redemption. Having finished second behind Sven Kramer (NED) in 2016 already, the Norwegian was on his way to beat both Kramer and Patrick Roest (NED) after three distances at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. With the World title in sight and just a little over eight laps to go, Pedersen fell and despite getting up quickly, lost too much time to keep Roest off the title.

Sverre Lunde Pedersen(NOR) looks dejected during the ISU World Championships 2018 Amsterdam (NED) @ISU

Pedersen never came as close to the World Allround title again, despite finishing second to Roest in 2019 and 2020 too. Together with Jan Blokhuijsen (NED) and Håvard Bøkko (NOR), who also finished on the podium five times, Pedersen claimed the most podium finishes at the men's world allround championships without having won the world title.

Pedersen looks back at Amsterdam 2018:

“Of course, it’s always there and I will never it, but I got used to live with it and move on. There’s nothing I can do about it. Luckily I had some really big results afterwards.

“The highlights of my career were gold at the World Single Distance Championships in Inzell 2019 and the Team Pursuit Gold medal in Beijing 2022.”

After his 2018 disappointment, Pedersen struck back at the at the World Single Distance Championships in 2019, when he won gold in the 5000m, beating Sven Kramer, who had won the title five times in a row and eight times in total.

Bad luck on the bike

Bad luck kept crossing Pedersen’s path, however. In September 2019, he got injured in a bike accident together with team-mate Simen Spieler Nilssen in Inzell. At first his injuries did not seem to be too bad, but eventually headaches kept causing him trouble over the whole following season.

The worst was yet to come, however. In May 2021, Pedersen got involved in a bike crash gain. This time he had to be airlifted to hospital after hitting a pothole and losing control of his bike during a training ride in Norway. He suffered several fractures and a tear in his liver.

“It took a lot of energy, but I came back for the (Beijing 2022) Olympics (winning gold in the) team pursuit, but after, that I’ve had really tough years with a lot of sickness and a body that would not respond to training.”

Finish on a high note

While Lorentzen had already decided that the 2023/24 season would be his last, Pedersen had postponed his decision up until last month’s  World Single Distance Championships in Calgary.

“I was thinking about the future,” Pedersen says.

“I I found that I don’t have enough motivation and passion left to go on and put in the hard work every day. Of course that was a tough decision, but I’m happy I took it."

Sverre Lunde Pedersen(NOR) waves during the ISU World Championships 2024 in Inzell (GER). @ISU

“I’ve been struggling over the past years and this winter was a big step up. I’m really glad to finish my career with my best races. So I've been really struggling this year and this winter is a big step up. I’m glad to finish with my best skating this season and my best skating for a long time.”

Future plans

For both Lorentzen and Pedersen, the Inzell farewell was emotional.

Lorentzen said:

“The announcer (who mentioned Lorentzen skating his last championships) didn’t make it any easier for me, I was fighting (the emotions) a bit.”

After finishing fifth in the overall ranking at his final championships, Lorentzen skated a lap of honor with his daughter on his arm, waving goodbye to the crowd.

Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) waves during the ISU World Championships 2024 in Inzell (GER). @ISU

“In September we’ve got a second child coming,” Lorentzen said.

“That made the decision to stop easy. I’m not sure what I’m going to do after Speed Skating. First I’m going to make sure dinner is ready when Hege (Lorentzen’s wife Hege) comes home and I’ll pick up Emilie (daughter) from kindergarten."

“Of course I’m going to miss it. I still enjoy speed skating, the excitement of racing and traveling around the world with my friends and teammates. I made so many friends from different countries.

“But if I want to try to get a little bit better, I need to travel more to fast ice. That means more time away from home and I don't want to sacrifice that.”

Pedersen waved farewell to the Inzell crowd carrying his son Svein around the rink in a lap of honor.

For him travelling was also an important reason to call it quits.

“I’ve always been travelling away from home for good ice rinks. That’s one of the reasons that I’m a bit tired. Good skaters often come from cities with an indoor skating rink like Hamar and Stavanger.”

Like Lorentzen, Pedersen is going to take a break before making future plans.

“First I’ll have a holiday. I hope to be in speed skating in the future, first at my local club in Bergen and then we’ll see.”