Jorien ter Mors’ Dutch double: first ‘dual threat’ women’s speed skater wins 1,500

You might say Jorien ter Mors has a two-track mind.

In the annals of Olympian versatility — only four athletes who have competed since 2000 have won medals in two disciplines — there might not be anything that tops the Dutch dual threat's feat this weekend at Sochi 2014. Ter Mors, merely by stepping on to the Adler Arena oval, broke new ground as the first woman to compete in short- and long-track speed skating during the same Games. Following her fourth in the women's 1,500 in short track on Saturday, ter Mors dusted the long-track 1,500 field by winning in an Olympic-record one minute 53.51 seconds on the much-criticized slow ice in Sochi.

Ter Mors, 24, knocked off countrywoman Ireen Wust, the defending Olympic champion. Wust took silver in 1:54.09 for her third medal in Sochi, with Lotte Van Beek (1:54.54) and Marrit Leenstra (1:56.40) giving the Netherlands a podium sweep plus one.

"I've seen some skating, but that was unbelievable," CBC veteran commentator Steve Armitage said after ter Mors' time went up. "To take four seconds off the leader's time?"

Haralds Silovs competed in both disciplines for Latvia on the men's side in Vancouver, but was not able to win a medal. Two-time Olympic champion Shani Davis also dabbled in short track, but never made a U.S. team.

It's still skating, but short track involves racing in an often tightly bunched pack of racers, around the perimeter of a hockey rink. Long track is basically a time trial, going against the clock. One can only imagine what's involved in switching one's mindset from one to the other. Short trackers tend to be compactly built and nimble, but long trackers tend to be tall, lithe and long-limbed.

It's doubtful Canadian skaters could even attempt it since short-trackers train mostly in Quebec and the long-trackers are based in Calgary.

Ter Mors took up long track in 2012 as a way to improve her physical conditioning. At 5-foot-11, she fits the long-track prototype, but the Netherlands is very deep in that discipline and she's also very successful as a short-tracker. This season, the native of Enschede, in the eastern part of the Netherlands, set a course record in the 1,500 during a long-track meet in Berlin and also won three golds at the European short-track championships last month.

That set her up with the "busiest schedule" ever of an Olympic speed skater in modern times, with six events. Coincidentally, she hasn't reached the podium yet in her preferred distance, finishing seventh in 500 short track, along with fourth in 1,500. The Dutch relay team was also disqualified.

There is still one more chance for Ter Mors to complete the other half of the Dutch double. On Friday, she is slated to compete with the long track team in women's team pursuit, then compete in the short track 1,000.

Canada's Clara Hughes, of course, was a medallist in cycling and long-track speed skating. The other two-sport medallists who were active in the 2000s are Germany's Susi Erdmann (bobsleigh, luge) Great Britain's Rebecca Romero (cycling, rowing) and Italy's Gerda Weissensteiner (also bobsleigh and luge).

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.