SPEEDSKATING : Jansen’s Attitude Positive

Jane Danielle Jansen, a lively 7-month-old, doesn’t know that her daddy, Dan Jansen, was the first speedskater to race the 500-meter sprint in less than 36 seconds.

She doesn’t know he fell twice at the 1988 Calgary Olympics after learning that his sister, whose name she carries, had died of leukemia. She doesn’t know that at the Albertville Games in 1992, he finished a disappointing fourth in the 500 and 26th in the 1,000.

Her love is unconditional, and that has changed Dan Jansen.

“I’ve come to the rink every day with a little bit different perspective,” he said. “It started when Jane was born. Skating is not less important, but there’s something way more important.

“Even days when things don’t go good, she’s there. Robin (his wife) tells me when I go to the line, she’s in her lap, yawning. She doesn’t know what I’m doing.”

Someday, she’ll appreciate what he has accomplished--and what he’s striving for this weekend, when the U.S. Olympic long-track trials resume at the Pettit National Ice Center.

Jansen, of Greenfield, Wis., overcame flu last weekend and set track records in the 500 and 1,000 in the first phase of the competition. He has a solid lead in the 1,000-meter standings, with one race left; and in the 500, with two races left. He will compete again tonight in the 1,500 after finishing third to Brian Wanek and Nathaniel Mills.

Jansen is approaching this weekend, and World Cup races in Milwaukee later this month, with a decidedly positive attitude.

“For me, these are confidence builders,” he said. “We’re getting close to the Olympics, so it’s getting more important now for my confidence and general feeling.”

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair of Champaign, Ill., boosted her confidence with five track records last weekend. She’s well ahead of the women’s field in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500.

The weekend’s events will feature former in-line skater KC Boutiette, an upset winner in the first men’s 5,000 race. His time of 7:07.49 was 20 seconds faster than his previous best, but about 12 seconds off the likely cutoff for Olympic entrants. Chantal Bailey of Boulder, Colo., also will try to earn her first Olympic berth. She was second to Blair last weekend--twice in the 1,000 and once in the 1,500--and won the first staging of the 3,000.

The United States can send up to four skaters to Lillehammer in the men’s and women’s 500, 1,000 and 1,500. Three positions are allotted for the men’s 5,000 and the women’s 3,000. Entrants for the men’s 10,000 and women’s 5,000 will be limited to those with the world’s 32 fastest times in each race.