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Kearns • Adam Callister remembers vividly the first time his mother dragged him to a speedskating practice, not long after the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
"I hated it," he said.
But even though he would rather have stayed home playing video games and hanging out with friends, his hatred didn't last long. He quickly made new pals on the ice, bonded with a coach while discussing the NFL's Minnesota Vikings — his favorite team — and soon discovered a talent for the sport that has led him to the U.S. Short-Track Championships at the Utah Olympic Oval.
It's the first time the skinny 18-year-old from Salt Lake City has competed at the national championships, where he's the only native Utahn racing this weekend.
"I love this sport," he said, pedaling an exercise bike between races. "I know every single person here, and everyone supports everyone else. That's probably my favorite part about the sport."
For all of the top athletes who move to Utah to live and train for their speedskating careers, it's rare for a home-grown athlete to reach the precipice of the elite level.
But after discovering the sport at just 9 years old — former Olympic gold medalist Derek Parra remembers Callister as one of a handful of kids who showed up wanting to skate after the Salt Lake Games — Callister attended the Winter Sports School in Park City in order to facilitate his training, a move that appears to be paying off.
On a day when skaters raced individual time trials to earn points and establish seeding for the wild pack-style races later, Callister clocked the best times of his career Friday and qualified among the top 16 to keep competing for the rest of the weekend.
He's probably not going to win any titles or earn a spot on the World Cup team for the rest of the season … but that might not be far away, either.
"Right now, he's just coming into his own," said Mike Kooreman, who coaches Callister as the head coach for the FAST development program at the oval. "It's just a matter of time. You can see right away when you look at him skating that he has what it takes."
In fact, Kooreman went so far as to compare Callister to a young Apolo Anton Ohno — at least with regard to his maturity as a skater.
"This might be one year before he really hits it big," Kooreman said.
Parra agreed.
The former national all-around coach for U.S. Speedskating who works now as the outreach director for youth sports programs at the Utah Athletic Foundation said Callister could be like older skaters such as Simon Cho and Jeff Simon who started the last Olympic quadrennial "not even on the radar" but developed into World Cup regulars.
"He loves to skate, and he has stuck with it," Parra said.
Skating officials hope Callister also serves as an example for other local athletes, showing them that it's possible to compete with those who move here from everywhere else — especially with the new development program that Parra is directing at the oval and the Utah Olympic Park.
For his part, Callister plans to take some classes at Salt Lake Community College with an eye toward attending the University of Utah, while continuing his pursuit of a high-level speedskating career.
And, yes, the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia are on his mind, though Callister is hardly unrealistic about his chances of reaching them.
"As many times as people ask me, 'Can I go to the Olympics with you?' I'm reminded that I'm going to have to train really hard," he said, exhaling a big breath on the exercise bike. "I wish it was as easy as they make it seem."
Friday's action
Olympians Lana Gehring and Simon Cho were the top qualifiers in time-trial races that kicked off the U.S. Short-Track Championships on Friday at the Utah Olympic Oval.
Skaters raced 1,000-meter and 444-meter time trials to establish seeding for the pack-style races Saturday and Sunday, and to earn points toward qualifying to compete at the last two World Cup races of the season.
Cho won both of the men's races, with Jeff Simon and Travis Jayner close behind. Gehring won the women's 444 while Katherine Reutter won the 1,000, with Jessica Smith third in the overall classification. —
Photo gallery
O For more photos of the U.S. Short-Track Speedskating Championships on Friday, visit