Dual sports Olympian talks bike racing and speed skating

From a local BMX race track to the Olympic velodrome, Vincent De Haître has never lost his passion for bike racing.

Author: Kunio Tsuyuhara

De Haître is known for being a dual sport Olympian (speed skating and track cycling), but what is not very known is that his bike racing history started on a borrowed BMX bike in 2006 when he was 11 years old.

“There was a local track, they let you borrow a bike, and I just had fun racing at a regional level,” recall De Haître.

He continued BMX racing until 2010, but he started realizing he needed to build more endurance for speed skating. He then turned to road cycling and then track cycling.

“After a first year joining a road program at Ottawa Bicycle Club, I had an opportunity to ride at the velodrome in Bromont. It was just a one-day experience on a rental bike, but I really enjoyed it."

“Then next year, I participated in a track cycling training camp in London Ontario (Forest City Velodrome) for two weeks. And after the camp, there was the provincial championship. I got a couple of medals, and that got me selected for the nationals, which was happening two weeks later in Bromont."

He won three silver medals at the nationals only after three weeks of track cycling experience. Those are excellent race results and could be seen as the start of his meteoric rise as a cyclist. However, bike racing stayed primarily as his summer training tool for speed skating.

Along this line, he cautioned that we should not focus too much on the race results at an early stage of athletic development.

“The race results you get when you are 14 or 15 are not the race results that takes to determine if you are on the Olympic team when you are 24."

“For younger athletes, enjoying yourself and being around people that you enjoy competing with will get you a lot further than being on the strictest program."

For De Haître, there is no better way to train his aerobic endurance for speed skating than cycling. And he encourages younger developing speed skaters to incorporate bike racing as part of cycling program.

“If you are a speed skater, you are gonna have to ride a bike a lot at some point. So you might as well enjoy it. Not all kids want to train, but all kids want to race. And the more race days you have as a kid, the better."

De Haître also emphasizes the importance of community aspects of the sports.

“In Calgary, there is a velodrome and the Olympic Oval, so there is more opportunity for collaboration between cycling and speed skating communities. With all the cycling racing opportunities in the summer, they don’t want to just train to be a speed skater. Creating a group of kids who do both is definitely good for both communities."

As an athlete who grew up competing in two sports at very high levels, De Haître again emphasizes the importance of overall development as well-rounded athletes.

“At an early age, you don’t need to focus too much on training aspects. Getting into the routine of training is what we all learn here at the elite level."

“For kids, doing the racing, learning how to race, and enjoying it are far more important and more effective way to find and identify talent in the athletes in the long run. When you are younger, racing more is the priority. Training is not."

He also shared his concerns about too much performance-focused, early specialization programming in youth sport.

“Who cares about what they did when they are 12? If you are still growing, you can do pretty much whatever and still improve, and their performance results between 12 and 17 won’t matter as much for their athletic career."

“They can pick the one they like by the end,” laughed De Haître.

He ended up continuing both sports and went on to compete at the Olympics in both speed skating and track cycling. He is now back on ice as a full-time speed skater and compete in the World Cup races, but he will surely continue riding a bike for training, for commuting to the Oval, and above all for fun!

Author's note: The interview was conducted on October 26, 2023. Since then, he competed the full season on the World Cup circuit and finished his season at the World Championships in Calgary. He is now getting ready for the productive spring/summer training, which undoubtedly involves lots of cycling. Want to follow De Haître’s latest speed skating and cycling endeavour? Check out his Instagram page @vince_dehaitre.