I’m watching Dan Jansen on Colbert’s repeat and it’s triggered a question that’s always been in the back of my head.
Every time there’s a longer race the participants start off really slow and only jack it up on the last lap(s). What would happen if some guy decided to race flat-out from the start, or from halfway through the race?
I think you are thinking of track cycling, not speed skating. Speed skating isn’t a head-to-head competition, it is a timed contest. The fastest times win the medals, regardless of whether the “won” or “lost” against their opponent.
Erm, no, I’m not. That’s not the best link as it’s short track, not a longer event, but trust me - I’m definitely thinking of speed skating.
Short track is a race, but long track is timed.
Eh, maybe, but that doesn’t really answer my question - they scramble at the beginning for a place in line, scramble at the end for the win, but inbetween seem to just glide at a steady pace. It doesn’t seem like the best use of time to me.
It’s probably the best use of energy. I don’t skate, but it would seem to me that the steady glide is actually quite rapid, and the skaters need to manage their energy levels in order to have enough left for the finish. Once in a while you’ll have someone give a bit of a burst, either to pass someone or just to up the pace and intimidate the others. I suspect that placing yourself with respect to the rest of the field is somewhat of a function of the times you know you can do, and what you think your competitors can maintain. Bide your time, and blow them away at the finish line. Horse racing is like this too - let the horse go all out as soon as he’s out of the gate, and you’ll have a very tired horse and a last place finish by the time you reach the end.
ETA: I was at a skating rink a couple weeks ago, and an older gentleman (50s? 60 maybe?) was speed skating - just maintaining a steady pace around and around the rink for nearly an hour. Some little kid - maybe 8 years old - tried to race him around, once or twice and the gentleman won hands down. The kid just couldn’t maintain that first burst of speed.
The pacing in long track speed skating isn’t significantly different from other events of similar durations, at least in terms of effort expended. The 500m and 1000m are basically flat out, the 5km and 10km start out pretty slow. Looks are deceiving, though, and the “slow” early pace of the longer races make it appear that the skaters are loafing. They aren’t. Just because the strides are long doesn’t mean there isn’t very significant effort expended. It just doesn’t have the frantic appearance of the choppy strides in the 500m.
Lets look at some numbers, hopefully I won’t mess up the math:
World records (from Wikipedia)
Speed skating
1000m - 1:06.42 - average speed 55km/h
10000m - 12:41.69 - average speed 47km/h
Track (events selected to get similar overall times)
400m - 43.18 - average speed 33km/h
5000m - 12:37.35 - average speed 24km/h
In track, the 12 minute event is run at 73% of the speed of a one minute event. The 12 minute skater moves at 85% of the speed of a one minute skater. So the long skating events are comparatively faster than long track events. This is because skating is more efficient, though, not because skaters push harder at the beginning of long races than runners do.
What long track (400 m, timed) is concerned:
The answer to the OP’s question is just that for most riders starting out fast means imploding later in the race. This happens often enough though, it is all about the rider’s objective. If you don’t feel you have a particular high chance of winning, you can strat out fast and just try to hold on…it should be said that going out fast means being a few tenths a second faster each lap, while imploding usually result in going a couple of seconds slower each lap. Rider’s that ‘collapse’ often find it hard to stay in their bent over position, let alone having an effcient stroke.
You do see very different tactics though. I’m not sure how good the covergae in the US is, but here in Holland everybody has some understanding of skating and the commentary refkects that. The people on TV - and most of the tv audience - know which skaters are essentially sprinters and which aren’t. Especially with the 1500m, you can have these riding each other. So you get sprinters starting off rapidly and maybe get a second (which is a lot) ahead in the first lap, onlty to be overtaken in the last one. The last lap (when all riders should be beat) is often the key to winning.
On the longer races it is fairly common that people excellarate at different moments in the race, especially in the Allround championships (where all riders do 4 distances and the one with the best combined time wins) you have the last 10k race, where it occasionally happens that the main contenders are really racing each other by suddenly doing laps that are 2 seconds faster than the normal laps (trying to break away from the other rider) - this can be amazing to watch. Also, some riders (Bob de Jong) are notorious slow starters and alwayshave a race that finishes faster than it starts (it is often said that a true stayer - a long distance rider - is someone who does the second half of the 10K faster than the first half). While others start fast and go a bit slower every lap.
Short track (ice skating ring like the ones used for hockey; and about finishing position);
This is totally differnt sport, it is tactical and about finding the tightest line. Here the only goal is to get to teh first position and actual skating technique usually comes second (or third) to things like timing, strategy, pushing (to some extent).
So the sports are very different, a short track skater probably has quite slow PR’s for long track events and longtrack skaters would probably end last in any shorttrack event.
The only exception i know of is Shoni (spelling?) Davis of the US who wanted to win medals in both types of events at Turin Olympics, but if i recall correctlt he failed to qualify for Shorttrack (he was - and is - awesome at the long track 1000 and 1500 though).
Wow.
That is about 9 million times more than I ever knew about skating. Thanks. 
In addition to footballisplayedwithyourfeet’s excellent post, let me just add that the speed skating equivalent of the marathon are races that can be about 200 km long. The most hallowed race of all in this metier, the elfstedentocht, is a case in point as it is exactly 200 kilometers long.
Also, I’ll add that while one-on-one races are usually part of a larger competition and that therefore it does not matter per se who finishes first (it does not help a racer qualify for anything, for instance), it helps skaters if they can use the other skater, for instance by skating behind them when they change from the inner to the outer lane, or, when they’re about equally fast, by sort of urging each other on, with each skater refusing to accept the ignominy of defeat. When for some reason (disqualification, usually) the number of competitors is not even, someone rides the race on his or her own, and this is generally considered a large disadvantage.
I know nothing about skating, but I think there’s a logic to this. If you start out fast and get tired, you go fast for a while and then slow the rest of the way. If you start out medium speed and don’t get tired, you go medium for a while and then fast at the end. Medium + fast is better than fast + slow.
Whoops, didn’t mean to revive a several months old thread . . . I actually found it while I was searching “Dan Jansen” to see if anyone had commented on that tear-jerker commercial NBC has been airing.