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Chad Hedrick
Chad
Hedrick was born on April 17, 1977 in Spring, Texas.
Hedrick
was already a world famous inline skater boasting 50 world championships
in the sport when he switched to speed skating in 2002 with an
eye toward competing in the Winter
Olympic Games in Torino.
Only
months later, Hedrick made headlines when he placed fifth in the
5000 m at the World Single Distance Championships.
In 2004, he
won the U.S. National Championship in the 10,000 meters and the
World Allround Championship. He was also the first non-Dutch skater
to win the 5000-meter World Championships, six weeks after his
Allround title.
He later received
the Oscar
Mathisen Memorial Trophy, an annual international award honoring
the outstanding speedskating performance of the year.
In November
2005 he broke a world record in the 5000 m in the Calgary World
Championship races to earn the title of world's fastest speed
skater on the traditional Adelskalender
rankings.
In December
2006, Hedrick also broke the world speedskating record in the
10,000 meters at the U.S. long track championships.
Hedrick stood
as the only American able to skate five events at the Turin Olympic
Games (like his predecessor, five time Olympic gold medal champ
Eric
Heiden) and ultimately took home a gold in the 5000m, a silver
in the 10,000m and a bronze in the 1500m, coming in a distant
6th place in both the 1000m and the Team Pursuit.
Chad
Hedrick Fan Site - Busy online community with active message
boards, photos, bio, information and links to articles and video
clips.
Chad
Hedrick - Profile from the U.S. Olympic Committee including
interesting facts, photos, quotes, related links to story articles
& interviews.
also see ->
Ice
Skating | Olympics
Olympic
Speed Skating
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