Peter Riches

www.facebook.com/peter.riches.940

Club / Team	Aldwych Speed Skating Club: London, ENG
When and where did you begin this sport?	He began ice skating at age seven with his father. He was originally involved in short track until he tried speed skating in 2014 during a weekend British speed skating camp in Inzell, Switzerland.
Reason for choosing this sport	His father, David Riches, is the head of expeditions at Westminster School in London, England, and first took him ice skating at age seven while on a trip to the Finland Ice Marathon. He has been involved in skating ever since.

Hero / Idol	US short track skater Apolo Ohno. (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018)
Ambitions	To win multiple gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games. (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018)
Hobbies	Stand up paddleboarding. (GB Speed Skating Facebook page, 02 Sep 2015)
Injuries	In early 2017 while racing he crashed into another skater and sliced the top of his knee as well as piercing his arm. He competed two weeks later at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Erzurum, Turkey, in February, but at that event his knee became swollen and scans showed a partial laceration to his quadriceps. He did not skate for the next six months, and returned to competition in October that year. (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018)
Other sports	He has competed in both short track and speed skating at international level. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Dec 2019)
Sporting philosophy / motto	"I want at least eight Olympic medals. I want to be one of the best skaters in history. I want to know that if I'm gonna put my life to something, I want to be the best at it." (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018)
Other information	MOVING TO THE NETHERLANDS In late 2019 he moved from London, England, to Heerenveen in the Netherlands for better training opportunities. He previously trained at the Aldwych Speed Skating Club in Guildford, near London, and would also do inline skating in Richmond Park. But the lack of a 400m track in Great Britain meant that he would often travel to The Hague in the Netherlands, to train. In September 2019 he announced that he had decided to move permanently to the Netherlands. "For me, to skate both long track and short track at the level which I aspire, I saw no better opportunity [than moving to the Netherlands]." (GB speed skating Facebook page, 02 Sep 2015; Instagram profile, 15 Sep 2019) SHORT TRACK AND SPEED SKATING He competes in both speed skating and short track, but says he prefers speed skating. "I'm doing significantly better in long track because it's more about how you are physically and obviously I can train really hard. That's where I'm in my element.” (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018) INJURY UPSIDE After suffering a laceration to his quadriceps muscle in 2017 he was not allowed to skate for six months. He used the time to pass his high school exams, and also spent time studying speed skating footage from previous Olympic Winter Games, until his muscle was completely rehabilitated. "The injury was a blessing in disguise definitely, as I don't think I would have trained as hard." (swlondoner.co.uk, 01 Feb 2018)