When former Humboldt resident William Dutton decided to return to speed skating, he set a goal of winning a World Cup medal.
Mission accomplished – and then some. In his first two World Cup events this season, the son of Lynn and Craig Dutton won two silver medals and two bronze medals in the 500 metre races. In addition, Dutton, who had never finished in the top 10 before, helped Canada win gold and set a world record in the team sprint.
“I set some really specific goals for myself this season and really worked on being more professional in sport,” Dutton wrote in an email interview. “It’s totally crazy to see how much of a difference attitude and habits can change a season. I wasn’t really expecting to win medals this season, I thought I was looking to build towards next season.
“I guess it just shows that focusing on the process is the key to getting results. That seems like a no brainer maybe but it’s not that easy to be 100 per cent in the zone all the time. It takes a lot of commitment and discipline.”
Dutton’s success has been extremely impressive considering it was earlier this year that he stepped away from the sport. He competed in the Red Bull Crashed Ice tour – an extreme sport described as “downhill speed skating on a luge track.” Dutton officially retired in June, but later opted to return to competition.
“I think the fact that I was able to take that mental break of not thinking about skating at all for a few months gave me the energy to make a plan,” he wrote. “I have a plan to succeed and now I am able to go through every week of training and check things off my preparation plan. That gives me the confidence and the mental strength needed to be consistent and get on the podium race after race.”
Dutton hopes to continue that consistency through the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In 2014, in Sochi, Russia, Dutton placed 14th overall in the 500. The 2018 Olympics are his priority and he plans to win a medal, Dutton said.
“The key for me over the next few years is going to be keeping myself hungry and keeping that bit of healthy fear,” he wrote. “Every single guy on the circuit wants to be on top so staying one step ahead of my competitors is the only option.
Our Speed Skate Canada slogan is ‘relentless pursuit of excellence’ and this year I have been able to understand what that means.”
Humboldt has definitely played a role in Dutton’s athletic career. He came to the community when he was 12 after living in Regina, Estevan, and Saskatoon.
“Humboldt is a great community to grow up in, especially for athletics,” wrote Dutton, who is now based in Calgary. “I think the community support in the area is really special. The community really rallies behind their sports and it is inspiring.”
Dutton recalls playing hockey and training for speed skating all in one evening in the same rink. Larry Theil coached the speed skating group Dutton affectionately calls “our gang of hooligans”.
“Between the Theils, the Bernhard family and myself we had a really solid and competitive training group and we were always finding new ways to push ourselves in training.”
Dutton appreciated the hockey coaches not minding having a multi-sport athlete on the roster. He recalls bantam AA coach Ken Lockinger being OK with him missing the odd practice for speed skating.
“That was a pretty big turning point that allowed me to continue skating,” Dutton wrote. “You might not have that sort of freedom with teams in bigger cities so Humboldt was definitely an important building block for my athletic career.”
No matter where he has lived, Dutton has had the strong support of his parents. They congratulated him on a great career when he retired and listened when he decided to come out of retirement and helped him make sure he was coming back for the right reasons.
“It’s pretty common for athletes to come back to sport because it is the life they have always led and that is where they are comfortable,” Dutton wrote. “I think they saw that I had a different mindset and they told me not to wait, get back at it as soon as possible. They always believed I could be successful and also I think they just really love having a good excuse to come visit me every few months.”
A Humboldt connection played a role in Dutton’s return to speed skating. This past summer he was helping out at the wedding of Canadian speed skating legend Jeremy Wotherspoon, who was born in Humboldt.
“In one of his speeches, he said ‘when you’re skating you might think you are busy but when you move on in life you will find out you weren’t,’” Dutton wrote. “That kind of got the gears turning in my head and made me think that I can focus a little harder and work towards my future outside of skating. It would just take a little bit more work. I knew I had the physical ability still so I decided I wanted to go get a World Cup medal.”
