Staying cool under pressure

No ice is colder and harder than speed skating ice. The precision required to create it has meant that Olympic speed skaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink — until the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speed skating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

"It's one of the biggest challenges I've had in icemaking," Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speed skater, hockey ice would be medium-hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push-off for jumps and so the ice doesn't shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speed skating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

"The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge," Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speed skater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speed skating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice," he said.