Canadian short track speed skater Will Dandjinou is doing the next Olympics his own way, hoping for a different result on the biggest stage at the next Games.
For him that includes being bold, brave and embracing uncertainty. It now also means he’s switching out his short track skates for long track. At least for a weekend.
Just a couple of weeks after the back-to-back Crystal Globe champion said he would be skipping the first two World Tour stops of the season — both on home ice in Vancouver and Montreal —Dandjinou told CBC Sports he will compete at the Canadian long track championships Oct. 15-18 in Quebec City.
“It’s a surprise. I haven’t talked about it to anyone yet,” he said. “But it’s going to be very cool for me. And that’s just part of trying new things. And also I feel like there’s a really, really good parallel between long track and short track.
“I still want to do short track. I’m not saying this is a career switch. Maybe eventually, but I think I still have a lot to prove to myself in short track.”
Dandjinou said he’s planning to compete in the 1,500-metre event at long track nationals and is also considering the mass start. He’ll make his short track World Tour debut on the third stop in Seoul.
Short track world champion Will Dandjinou reveals plan to compete in long track this season
After being dominant on the World Tour and at the world championships the last two seasons leading into the Olympics, many, including Dandjinou, thought wining as many as five medals at the Games was as possibility. Instead, the 25-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., left with a only silver medal from the mixed relay.
So now he’s charting a different path to the next Olympics with the hopes of a different outcome, one that has him starting out the quadrennial on the long track ice surface.
“I’ll be competing there, having fun with the guys, hopefully challenging them a little bit.,” he said. “Right after the worlds I actually competed in a long track competition and I qualified with my times to be able to race in two events.
“Like I said, this is not a career switch. It’s just I feel like there’s so much I can learn there that I can transfer back to short track. And the timing was great because not competing in Vancouver, in Montreal, I wasn’t going to do the taper with the rest of the guys here.”
When pressed about what the future in short long and long track holds for him, Dandjinou didn’t shut the door on making a full switch from one discipline to the other, though that likely wouldn’t happen until after these next Olympics.
Will Dandjinou, right, and the men’s short track team at practice in Montreal. (Devin Heroux/CBC)
It’s not unprecedented at all for a short track skater to make the switch. Canadian teammate Valérie Maltais has competed in three Olympics as a short track speed skater and then made the switch to long track, winning four Olympic medals — including one gold and two bronze in Milano last year — to go with the silver she won in short track at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Dandjinou said he has talked to Maltais about what a transition from short to long track looks like.
“We talked about it at the Games, actually, even before the first race. I feel like my body type is very, you know, I look more like a long tracker than a short tracker,” said Dandjinou, who is 6-foot-2. “The level in Canada is very strong, first of all. And I won’t jeopardize my short track events to try and perform in the sport.
“So I feel like the mistake there would be trying to qualify in both and then not performing in both, right? It’s really about improving in short track and having fun during this, this, this comeback season and, you know, bring you some skills that I’m hopefully improving on long track and bring them short track with me.”
Marc Gagnon, head coach of the short track team and a five-time Olympic medallist, has no issues with Dandjinou trying something new and has been nothing but supportive of him as he maps out the next four years.
Dandjinou finishes fourth in the 1,000 metres at last year’s Milano Olympics. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
“It’s good. I’m happy because long track is speed skating. Still a pretty different sport, but still speed skating. And I’m really happy that he’s trying it this year,” Gagnon said.
“Personally I believe that so many short trackers should go to long track after they’re done in short track. Just because it’s another sport, it’s fun, it’s something totally different. And it might get William to go even longer in his career and maybe switch one day to long track. Not in the next four years, unless I’m totally confused and I totally don’t get Will.”
Gagnon said a switch could certainly be in Dandjinou’s future.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised and I would be really happy for him because it would be a totally different objective goal. Something else to achieve. So honestly, I would be really happy for him if he did.”
For now, Dandjinou is looking forward to a change of scenery on the ice as he hits the reset button on his speed skating career.
“I think you’re not going to see me competing in long track much this season. I think it’s possible that in the next few years. I definitely want to be in short track in France in four years,” he said.
“I want to become Olympic champion. I think I will become Olympic champion, and I’ll do whatever it takes to do so.”
