Mikey Burdekin makes his way to a Masters 30-and-over world record at last weekend’s Land of Lincoln Short Track Championships in Champaign, Illinois.
Submitted photo
Mikey Burdekin’s comeback from retirement and major hip surgery hit another high trajectory last weekend.
The Full Throttle Speed Skating Coach set a Masters 30-and-over world record in the 777-meter event at the Land of Lincoln Short Track Championships in Champaign, Illinois.
“I knew going into it I had a shot,” Burdekin said. “That’s one thing I’ve been training for these past few years. The big goal was to chase at least one of them. I knew I had put in the work to achieve it. The conditions were not great the day of, but I knew I had put in the work to make it a possibility.”
Since the meet was not a world or national level event, the 32-year-old Burdekin did not have much competition. He lapped each of the other four skaters in the race twice.
“I had to make a handful of passes around the group, which was not ideal,” Burdekin said. “But it ended up being good enough.
“I think it was kind of disbelief because it’s not something I have ever achieved before,” he added. “It’s such a lofty goal that you never know no matter hard you work, you’ll get there. I would say it’s more a sense of accomplishment. That relief doesn’t last long because now you know you can do it, and you want more.”
Burdekin also won the 500m and 1000m events in Champaign. He finished first for masters overall and earned the Headmaster Award for Fastest 500 for Men’s Masters.
Burdekin won silver medals in the 500 and 1000 in the world championships in January in Bormio, Italy. He was just seven-tenths of a second off the Masters world record in the 1000. He also hopes to take a shot at the Masters world record in the 1500m.
“Those are more long term goals,” Burdekin said. “The 500 record is really fast, so I don’t think I have a shot at that. The 1,000 is something I’m close to, and then hopefully, I can get the 1,500 record, as well.”
Next weekend, Burdekin plans to chase national records in those events, as well as the 1500, at the Age Group Nationals in Bay City, Michigan. Duree Brown, who has competed with Full Throttle and is taking this year off, set all three records at last year’s nationals.
“If everything goes to plan, we’ll win that and set three national records,” Burdekin said.
Full Throttle Speed Skating competed in last weekend’s Land of Lincoln Short Track Championships in Champaign, Illinois. Pictured are, front row from left, Christopher Schwab, Edward Meir, Ethan Tan; second row, Gabe Marimoto Taqueushi, Rithwik Veeravalli, Quin Fortner, Yuzu Sasaki; and back row, coach Mikey Burdekin, Vivaan Gupta, Wyatt Kiefer, In Cheol Cho and Luis Marimoto Taqueushi.
Submitted photo
Meanwhile, several other Full Throttle members competed at the Land of Lincoln meet, which featured more than 150 skaters from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, Utah, Colorado and Washington D.C.
One other skater, In Cheol Cho, made his debut and finished fourth overall for the men’s Masters 55-and-over division at the 1000m, 777m and 500m distances.
Quin Fortner finished first overall in the Peewee A division for the 500m, 333m, 222m and 111m distances. Gabe Marimoto Taqueushi took fourth, and Ethan Tan was sixth.
Yuzu Sasaki made her competition debut and finished second overall in the girls Peewee B division for 444m, 333m and 111m distances. Edward Meir took 10th for those distances in the boys Peewee B division.
Vivaan Gupta finished fourth and Christopher Schwab fifth at 777m, 500m, 444m and 222m for the Pony/Midget B division. Wyatt Kiefer took sixth at 100m, 777m and 500m for the Junior C Division. In the Junior D division, Luis Marimoto Taqueshi was seventh and Rithwik Veeravalli 11th for 1000m, 777m, 500m and 333m.
