Dan Weinstein '03: Go Speed Racer Go

Dan Weinstein seems like any ordinary college freshman: he worries about lack of sleep, likes to talk about his entryway, and is starting to figure out just how much reading he really needs to do for his classes. With the dew of college career still fresh, this smiley, easy-going 19-year old talks about Harvard with a buoyant exuberance and not a trace of cynicism.

All in all, he seems in every way to be the friendly, modest guy that you might find living next door in Holworthy.

With one exception.

Dan Weinstein is also a reigning U.S. national champion speedskater and an Olympic athlete. And amidst the freshmen toil of Expos and the nuances of telnet, Weinstein must add the challenges of a world-class athlete.

On Feb. 13 with his entryway in attendance, Weinstein captured the national title in the 500 meters and 1000 meters races, and brought home the men's overall title at the U.S. Short Track Speedskating Championships.

Skating on home ice in Walpole, Mass., he also finished second in the 1500 meters, behind fellow national team member and teenager Apolo Anton Ohno.

A good showing at the U.S. championships, Weinstein feels, was crucial.

"The U.S. championship is what I peaked for physically this year," Weinstein says. "It decides the teams for the Goodwill Games and the World Team and World [individual] Championships. If you don't do well there, then you can't compete anywhere."

Weinstein's success at Nationals insures him of an invitation to the World Short Track Championships and qualifies him for a spot on the U.S. relay team, which is selected by national coach, at the World Team Championships.

He is nearly a shoe-in.

Only a few days later on Feb. 17 and 18, Weinstein followed up on his national success by putting in a solid showing at the first ever Winter Goodwill Games, held at Lake Placid, N.Y.

With Weinstein starting off the block, the U.S. team skated to second place in the 5000-meter team relay, finishing with a time of 7 minutes and 2.288 seconds. Despite setting a new national record, the U.S. still trailed Canada by 2.842 seconds.

In individual competition, Weinstein finished 12th in the 500 meter with a time of 43.034. The only down moment of the weekend came when Weinstein was disqualified in 1000-meter race for supposedly making contact with another skater.

Because of the international competition, Weinstein feels that the Goodwill Games are a good primer for the World championships.

"The top six countries were there," Weinstein says. "And everyone but Korea brought their best teams."

With the National championships and the Goodwill Games under his belt, Weinstein now looks to another important two-week stretch. He will face his sport's best at the World Short Track Team Championships in the Netherlands on March 4 and the World Short Track Championships in Britain from March 10 to 12.

Having spent last weekend training for the relay with the other members of the U.S. national team at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, Weinstein left for Europe on Monday.

Despite the guarantee of stiff international competition, Weinstein is optimistic about the team's prospects, and his.

"Judging from the Goodwill Games, I think that we have a good chance to medal," Weinstein says.

"The world championships are the biggest meet of each year," he adds, regarding individual competition. "I feel like I'm skating really well. In the past few days I have trying to make some adjustments to my blades, but nothing big. Any three of the U.S. guys could medal; we have the ability."

No Place Like Home

While most freshman find the adjustment to Harvard somewhat unnerving, Weinstein believes that it is Crimson life that keeps him sane.

"Being here," Weinstein says, "allows me to can get away from skating if I need to. If I have a good or bad race, I don't let it get to me, either way. I just do my best in the next one."

However, since Weinstein first laced up a pair of skates at age two, his good days have far outnumbered his bad ones. The Brookline native and Holworthy resident started his days in the rink as a hockey player.

Recalling his hockey days, Weinstein says, "I was always a better skater than stick-handler."

At the age of eight, his parents saw an article about local speedskating in the Boston Globe. Within a year, Weinstein was skating with the Bay State Speedskating Club.

"For the first year, I went once a week and used hockey skates."

However the learning curve was unusually steep for Weinstein. He started a training program at age 12. At age 14, he won the 600 meter, 800 meter, and 1000 meter races at the Junior National Long Track Championships.

In 1994, he became the youngest person to skate in the Olympic trials.

"I got my butt kicked," Weinstein says. "I didn't get out of the time trial. From then until 1998, I knew what I needed to do."

What Weinstein needed to do, in 1998, was to make the U.S. Olympic team. With the experience of the 1994 trials, he made the U.S. Olympic Nagano team. It is the skating accomplishment of which he is most proud.

"Making the Olympic team was my crowning achievement," Weinstein says. "Even more so than going."

The Long and Short of It

For most Americans, speedskating conjures up Olympic images of the victorious Bonnie Blair or the determined Dan Jansen. However with the introduction of short track racing and new blade technology, the sport has undergone tremendous change in the last decade.

Despite some surface similarities between short and long track racing, a skater must employ a different mentality and strategy for each.

Long track, the traditional Olympic sport, is contested on a 400-meter long oval, where two skaters simultaneously race in his or her own lane. Conversely, short track, which became an Olympic medal sport in 1992, occurs on a 111-meter long ice hockey-sized rink, and involves heats of four skaters. Distances in short track range from 500 meters to 3000 meters, whereas long track includes a 5000 meters and 10000 meters events.

In addition, racers compete against the clock in long track, while they race against one another in short track. Jockeying for position, pacing, and drafting are crucial elements in the latter.

"I like to think of it as short track being more like bike race," explains Weinstein. "There are a lot of head games and strategy."

Weinstein's choice to focus on short track is mostly out of necessity. Short-track courses are easily converted from hockey rinks. The nearest long track is at Lake Placid, while Weinstein trains at the Skating Club of Boston.

But Weinstein is not dismissing long track as a possibility, despite the obvious inconveniences.

"I'm leaving the option open to come back to long track."

A Day in the Life

Not matter how you cut it, the life of a world-class athlete and dedicated Harvard student is a delicate juggling act.

Weinstein, however, believes that things have worked out well so far.

"I'm getting just about as much training as I think that I need," he says. "The thing that I was lacking at the beginning year was sleep. I didn't know how the sleep was going to effect me. It worked out a little better than I thought."

Weinstein trains on a ten-day rotation during the season, varying practices between early morning and evening. On Mondays and Fridays, he wakes at 5:30am for morning on-ice practice in Walpole, but he is able to return to Cambridge for his 11:00am class.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, Weinstein has evening practices. To supplement his on-ice routine, he weight-trains everyday between or after classes. Every ten days, he indulges in a rest day.

Off-season training varies by season and tends to include more off-ice workouts. In the summer, his routine includes long-distance running and 100-mile-plus biking. As the fall approaches, the training becomes more skating-specific and his weightlifting becomes more intense.

And with the advent of winter, Weinstein intensifies his skating practices. By the beginning of the season, he's at top speed.

Weinstein's coach Geert Kinthaert developed his strict training routine.

Weinstein met Kinthaert at the Bay State Speedskating Club, and gradually Kinthaert, a member of the 1987 Belgium World Team and part of the Harvard Business School Executive Education program, has assumed a larger role in his training.

"When he skated, I watched in awe," Weinstein recalls of his coach. "When I was 12, during Olympic trials, he wrote my workout program. From then on, we started working together."

Looking Ahead

The future holds enormous promise for Weinstein. Although the World Championships are his priority now, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah already looms in the distance.

"The goal is to make the Olympic team," he says. "And then to look towards the Games after that."

The potential for Weinstein's success also extends to the entire national team. With skaters ranging in age from 17 to 22 years of age, the U.S., as it gains more experience will likely be a potent force in front of the patriotic crowd.

With each passing day, Weinstein only gets stronger as a skater. He has a distinct size advantage which affords him power, explosive speed, and a commanding presence in the lane.

However when asked about his strengths as a skater, Weinstein is quick to point out the importance of those around him.

"Something I think that what I have that a lot of other speedskaters don't have is something outside of skating," he says. "Part of the reason I came to Harvard was because I'd be close to some of my support systems. It's great to have made a lot more friends who are also support systems."

"Most of the top US skaters live in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs," he continues. "They eat with other athletes, live with other skaters. I think that it is important to have something else besides skating."

For Weinstein, that includes a potential psychology concentration and some old-fashioned bonding with his roommates.

"Dan is one of the nicest people that I have ever met--he's modest and a hard worker," says Justin Belobaba, one of those roommates. "He finds time for everything: for work, for skating, to be social."

Weinstein just adds Olympic competition and national championships to his Harvard experience. Not bad for a frosh.