New Zealand speed skaters Peter Michael and Reyon Kay are in action today in the men's 1500m, which starts at midnight tonight.
Palmerston North's Michael is an inline skating World Champion who decided to add the Olympic Winter Games to his goals.
New Zealand's Peter Michael during the Mens 5000m Speed Skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, South Korea. Photo: Photosport
Michael made the switch to ice after watching countryman Shane Dobbin at the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Soon after linking up with current coach Kalon Dobbin, Michael really started to improve.
In the 2016/17 season Michael gained World Cup podiums in the 1500m, 5km and Team Pursuit.
During the single distance world championship, Michael raced 5km and Team Pursuit, winning medals in both.
PyeongChang 2018 will be Michael's first Olympics and he's already raced the men's 5000m, coming fourth and missing out on bronze, and New Zealand's first Winter Olympic medal in 26 years, by less than three seconds.
The 28-year-old has a strong background in in-line skating and has held eight world titles in the past. Changing to speed skating on the ice in 2016 he has since won gold in the 5000m at the world cup and was third at the world single distance championships in 2017. He is one of New Zealand's better chances for a medal both individually and in the team pursuit.
Kapiti's Kay wil also compete in the men's 1500m and the team pursuit with Michael and Dobbin.
Kay, another inline speed skating world champion, was in 2011 coming back to New Zealand and leave the life of an athlete behind.
His mother, Helene, persuaded him to stop in Salt Lake City to give ice speed skating a go for a fortnight. That two weeks turned into six years and now Kay will compete in his first Olympic Winter Games at Pyeongchang.
After some tough transitional years Kay teamed up with New Zealand head coach Kalon Dobbin. In 2015 he won New Zealand's first ever World Cup medal placing 3rd in the mass start in Calgary, Canada.
Alongside Michael and Dobbin, Kay formed a Team Pursuit trio around 18 months out from the Games.
The team has won four medals from the last five major events, including a silver medal at the World Championships.
RAKAI TAIT - TUESDAY 13TH FEB
Snowboarder Rakai Tait begins his Winter Olympic campaign today in the halfpipe qualifiers at 5pm. Halfpipe is the only disipline he'll compete in in Pyeongchang.
The 17-year-old has one parent from the United States and one from New Zealand, choosing to represent the latter.
Rakai Tait. Photo: Photosport NZ
"It is such a great honour to be selected to represent the nation of my heritage, and I hope to make New Zealand proud," he said.
When he was seven years old his family moved to Leysin, Switzerland from Waimea, Hawaii. Tait, who was born in California, was an avid skateboarder and had always wanted to get on a snowboard
These days Tait is based in the mountains, in Vail, USA. He competes as often as possible, taking in all the Rev Tour stops in halfpipe and slopestyle. Strong results at these events helped him qualify for the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games where he finished sixth in halfpipe and 13th in slopestyle.
Tait faces a tough ask in getting close to the podium and isn't considered a medal contender. The general thought is that there are three serious contenders for gold barring a major shock, American X-Games legend and two-time gold medallist Shaun White, 2014 silver medalist Ayumu Hirano and Australia's Scotty James.
The Olympic halfpipe champion Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov -- more commonly known as I-Pod -- won't defend his title due to injuries he sustained during a nasty fall in the X Games halfpipe final.
-RNZ
