Maxime Laoun, a key member of the rising short track speed skating team from Canada, possesses a collection of 12 sets of blades, each meticulously numbered. While competing in Milan, he brought along five of these sets, all seemingly identical in construction but minutely distinct to Laoun’s discerning touch. Out of the five, he identifies numbers 8 and 9 as his preferred blades for the competition.
Athletes often exhibit a deep attachment to their equipment, with examples like Tiger Woods scrutinizing a two-gram discrepancy in his driver or Mark Cavendish reacting strongly to a slightly misaligned saddle. Among the team, Laoun stands out as particularly meticulous. The team’s high-performance director, Marc Schryburt, promptly singles out Laoun as the most particular when it comes to his skates.
The meticulous process of crafting speed skates begins with custom-made boots, personalized for each athlete through computer scans and plaster casting of their feet. Laoun, for instance, cherishes a single pair of boots worn consistently for about 18 months, always opting to skate without socks for the closest connection to his equipment.
During his journey to Milan, Laoun safeguarded his cherished boots in his carry-on luggage while entrusting his blades to checked baggage. The care extended to his blades is evident as he distributed some among friends and the team’s skate technician, treating them with a reverence akin to royal companions.
Short track speed skaters like Laoun utilize fixed blades positioned to the left of their boots to facilitate tighter cornering, contrasting with the clap skates used by long track speed skaters. The intricacies of adjusting equipment to the ice conditions are a daily routine for Laoun, who notes the unique characteristics of the ice at the Milano Arena, reminiscent of his usual training grounds in Montreal.
Each adjustment to the blades presents a trade-off, with considerations like stability versus maneuverability coming into play. Laoun and his teammate, William Dandjinou, have both recently transitioned to longer blades for enhanced stability, a shift that has yielded positive results in their performances.
The pursuit of the perfect skate setup for Laoun has evolved into a maintenance routine, where he personally handles the sharpening of his blades to a razor-sharp 90-degree edge. The delicate process of blade maintenance and the sensation of gliding on perfectly tuned skates remain a profound experience for Laoun, who struggles to articulate the transformative feeling of his feet transformed into precision instruments.
From the intricacies of blade adjustments to the personalized nuances of skate maintenance, Laoun’s unwavering dedication to his equipment underscores his commitment to peak performance on the ice.
