Racers say Milan Cortina speed skating venue feels like they’re on a lake

By Canadian Press on November 29, 2025.

MILAN (AP) — Racing around the speed skating venue for the Milan Cortina Olympics was described as feeling like skating on a lake. Cracks and all.

A key test event was held at the Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on Saturday, when the temporary structure hosted a Junior World Cup.

“They’re still trying to make perfect ice,” Kayo Vos told the Associated Press just after winning the men’s neo-seniors 1,000 meters. “The track is like 20 centimeters above the concrete so it sounds like you’re skating on natural ice because it sounds hollow.

“And it cracks it a little bit in the outer corner, in either corner, so it sounds funny and it gives the feeling that you’re skating on natural ice.”

Vos, who has been training at the venue for the past week, said “it’s getting better every day” and he and other athletes have given feedback to Canadian ice master Mark Messer, who is in charge of making the ice at the speed skating arena.

“We have a small window to learn things and we’re starting to get some good information today from the skaters, from the coaches and from the results, and we’re starting to tune it up a little bit,” Messer said.

“We have to start with safe ice first, so we went very modest to start. Now we can start to change the temperatures a little bit, try to make it faster but still keep it maintained as a safe ice.”

The Speed Skating Stadium and the Rho Ice Hockey Arena are temporary structures in the Fiera Milano exhibition venue — a trade fair complex that opened in 2005 in northwest Milan.

It is the first time a temporary venue has been used for the long track speed skating at the Olympics and Messer said that contributes to the sensation of being on natural ice and the “funny” sounds the athletes have noticed.

“It sounds like there’s something underneath or not something underneath, maybe a hollow, so I think the perception is like skating on a lake where there’s a void underneath,” Messer said.

“We don’t have a void but we have insulation before the concrete. So you get the same sort of sound and the same perception.”

The venue for the speed skating was resolved only in April 2023 after months of wrangling and controversy. When it was awarded the Games in 2019, the Milan Cortina bid dossier had speed skating taking place at Baselga di Piné, with a roof over the outdoor track.

However, the International Olympic Committee rejected those plans as there were concerns that the estimated costs of 50 million euros ($54 million) to build the roof could rise by at least 50%.

There were calls to hold speed skating at the existing indoor oval built for the 2006 Turin Games but that was rejected because of the cost of re-installing the ice-making facilities and also because of political reasons.

There were also tests done at the Arena Civica in Milan to see if it could be staged there, but that also went against the preference of the IOC for the controlled environment of indoor venues.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Daniella Matar, The Associated Press