How a Distinctive Sport in a Unique Community Provides an Abundance of Benefits
With each Winter Olympics, the world bears witness to the power and grace of speed skating.
In Lake Placid, the splendor of the sport doesn’t just come to us on our TVs but is instead deeply ingrained in the local culture and spirit. We gain a sense of the unique thrill of gliding on ice with those long blades not only from the photos of our Olympic Oval’s legends but also from the people of all ages we see almost daily gliding around our historic track.
It’s all there to see. The grit and fortitude of elite athletes in training. The joy of youth skating, learning, and having fun with their friends. Recreational skaters who take care while making their turns to appreciate the track’s history and take in the mountain views. We see in them all how speed skating in our Olympic Village is something truly special.
High Value, Quality Speed Skating Experiences
“We serve everyone who wants to speed skate,” says Tom Miller, a coach with the Adirondack Speedskating Club. A local coach since 1989, Tom has provided decades of volunteer service to an abundance of youth over the years as well as athletes with dreams of going to the Olympics.
Only six 400-meter speed skating tracks are maintained across the entire country, and the James C. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval is the only outdoor oval with facilities that meet the high standards of national and international competition. That makes Lake Placid a rare gem. Newly renovated with a new, high efficiency refrigeration system and an all-electric Zamboni, the Village’s two speed skating clubs relish that historic long-track venue while also benefitting from the adjacent indoor rinks for short-track skating.
“I grew up in a speed skating family,” says Tom, “and I just love the sport. One thing my dad instilled in all of us is it had to be fun. And since his first coaching certification in 1989, Tom has worked to ensure that fun is the club’s foremost feature for everyone involved.
In fact, the Adirondack Speed Skating Club has four coaches advancing the development of skaters, and all of them bring their own experience and expertise to helping members achieve everything they want from their time on the ice.
In 2016, having guided athletes to standout performances over multiple distances, Tom played an instrumental role in helping develop the next generation of elite U.S. speedskaters. Under his guidance, Esther Munoz was named to the U.S. Junior Development Team for her second year, winning U.S. Speedskating’s 2016 Junior Ladies AmCup and finishing fifth at the U.S. Junior National Speedskating Championships. He also led Fletcher Codd to his first U.S. Junior Development Team selection in addition to the all-around men’s titles at the Shea Sprint Championships and the Jewtraw All-Around Championships. Also under his direction, Sydney-Yu Terpening won the US Speedskating Junior C Ladies National Age Class Championship title and placed second at the U.S. Speedskating Junior National Championships. As a result of all this success, the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded Tom the 2016 Volunteer Coach of the Year award.
Asked what he feels makes a great speed skating coach, Tom says, “Being honest, keeping it fair, and making it fun. It’s not an easy sport, so we go out of our way to make it fun. We have two camps coming up, and I know the athletes will work hard. We do a review with them every year, and what we always hear is they had the best time of their lives.”
Fun and Fitness That’s Multi-faceted and Rewarding
Whether pursued as a sport or recreation, speed skating offers thrilling sensations of speed at the same time it delivers an unparalleled feeling of freedom while gliding along the ice. That’s a source of joy and excitement unique to speed skating.
There’s a strong social component to it as well. Speed skaters congregate at the oval most days from 4pm to 6pm, where they enjoy a welcoming social environment in which they’ll skate together, talk together, and create and affirm friendships. And because the speed skating community spans all ages and abilities, from beginners to elite athletes, this social component is multi-level and multi-generational.
These connections often apply to families, too, as one speed skater in a family will inspire others to get involved. The family bonds produce even stronger connections as siblings, parents, grandparents, and other family members enjoy ice time with one another.
Within the local speed skating community, one also finds helpful mentorship and support. If a skater is proficient enough to help others, there are always intrinsic rewards in doing so, and if, on the other hand, getting a little help or support from another skater is an important benefit of a strong community, too. Though not a team sport, speed skaters tend to be there for one another. Of course, there are also expert coaches in the clubs to provide guidance and training knowledge, too.
While performing decades of volunteer coaching work, Tom also maintained paid employment in the intellectual disability field. In fact, three of the four coaches in the Adirondack Speed Skating Club share significant experience working with people with disabilities, so anyone who would benefit from that knowledge can also expect a knowledgeable, respectful, supportive environment.
Lake Placid has a long-standing tradition of engagement with the sport, both within the Olympic Village and the broader community. This shared interest, especially among speed skating participants, makes the area well-suited for training, skill development, and networking.
History and Legacy
Speed skating has always been a part of winter in Lake Placid, and from the start it produced a great deal of success, too. At the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, in 1924, the first gold medal ever awarded in those Game’s very first event, a 500-meter speed skating race, went to Lake Placid resident Charles Jewtraw. A monument stands today on the banks of Mill Pond in Lake Placid, where Charles trained.
Then at the 1932 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, local speed skater Jack Shea won two gold medals in speed skating, becoming not only the first athlete to ever medal twice in a single Olympics but also the first gold medal awarded in Lake Placid. In yet another first, Jack was awarded that medal on the first ever medal podium used in any Olympic Games. Today, the podium is a mainstay of international athletic competition, one that began with our own Jack Shea in Lake Placid.
Another legend of the oval, Irving Jaffee, also won two gold medals at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics, marking the first time two Americans won medals in speed skating in the same Olympics.
Women’s speed skating wasn’t added as an official Olympic competition until 1960, when local athlete Jeanne Ashworth won the bronze medal and become the first American woman to win an Olympic speed skating medal.
Twenty years later, at Lake Placid’s 1980 Olympic Winter Games, Eric Heiden came to town and electrified both the nation and the world by laying down a truly remarkable performance. Winning five gold medals in speed skating on our oval, he set a record for medals in a single Olympic Winter Games that still stands today as a defining moment in Olympic history.
The most recent international competition on the James C. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval was the FISU (International University Sports Federation) World University Winter Games in 2023, the largest multi-sport competition in Lake Placid since the 1980 Games. Notably, our historic oval hosted greatness once again as skaters from around the world rewrote the record books on that famous track, even breaking some of the record times Eric Heiden set in Lake Placid. A total of 10 new track records were set at the FISU Games on the historic track that had just been upgraded with a new refrigeration system and electric Zamboni. The oval staff responsible for maintaining the ice leveraged these improvements to provide a durable and consistently fast surface, even as weather changed during the week from rain to sun to snow.
To this day, the speed skating community and the entire community of Lake Placid admire and honor these legends of the oval, including its namesake, James “Bunnie” Sheffield. A prolific organizer and successful promoter of winter sports, James held positions in national and international sport governing bodies and was inducted into the National Speedskating Hall of Fame in 1971.
Community Support and Collaboration
Among the programs provided by the Adirondack Speed Skating Club is Henry’s Kids, an opportunity for fun, growth, and learning open to all children under 18 and named after well-known community philanthropist Henry Uihlein. Henry was not only an avid speed skater but also an organizer vital to bringing the 1932 Winter Olympic Games to Lake Placid as well as an official starter and timer at the Games.
About eight years ago, the Uihlein Foundation made a decision to honor their founder’s love of speed skating and his work for the 1932 Games by providing grant funding to the Adirondack Speedskating Club. The funds supply skates and other vital gear to ensure quality equipment is available for youth skaters and to safeguard the affordability and accessibility of the club’s programs.
Says Tom, “Our youth program is named after Henry as a way to thank the Foundation for their support. After all, it’s vital to offering a high quality program. With this funding we provide skates and skate suits, safety equipment and more, and it’s been instrumental in getting kids involved and reaching a competitive level. Our goal is to keep as many youth in this core program as we can to foster their ongoing development in the sport.”
Thanks to the support of the Uihlein Foundation and his close collaboration with the Olympic Authority’s team, Tom says, “Right now is the best we’ve ever had. Ashley, Chadd and Mary E and the rest of the team have been great to work with, and they’re helping make this all happen in a big way. Indeed, it’s a collaboration between the Olympic Authority, our two local clubs, the Village, and our community partners that makes this Village in the mountains one of exceedingly few places that grows and nurtures a sport where all ages can experience the speed and camaraderie of the speed skating community.”
Lake Placid holds a special place in speed skating history, and with support and encouragement and participation from so many sources, this Olympic Village will undoubtedly maintain that prominence – and the sport development opportunity it creates – for many years to come. The greatness demonstrated so many times on our Olympic Oval provides an enduring legacy that, beyond its historical significance, will serve us all far into the future by inspiring our community and its visitors as well as a new generation of athletes and recreational skaters.