The maturing Denny Morrison is developing into one of the top speed skaters on the World Cup circuit. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)

To attend the World Cup speed skating final next spring, you'll need a rectangular piece of cardboard imprinted with the World Cup logo, the date and a picture of Denny Morrison. To you it's a ticket, to Morrison it's a milestone.

"Right off the bat, I thought it was pretty cool," Morrison says of the decision to make him the face of the Calgary competition and put his image on posters, fliers and tickets.

"Great skaters like Jeremy Wotherspoon and Catriona LeMay Doan have had their pictures used for this sort of thing many times before, so it was pretty cool to be recognized in that way."

Cool, perhaps, but not surprising.

After almost two decades on skates, Morrison had a breakout season in 2005-06 – and it changed his life. He has more fans, faces greater pressure and has tweaked his plans for the future.

Morrison, 20, started speed skating when he was three years old because his parents wanted him to learn how to skate and he was too young to play hockey.

The native of Chetwynd, B.C., focused on both short track and long track events for the next dozen years. But he decided to focus solely on long track four years ago.

"In long track it’s just me and the race and there isn’t as much luck or chance in what might happen," he told a speed skating website. "This means clearer results where the strongest skaters win, not the luckiest skaters."

Eye-opening year

Morrison improved steadily. In the 2005-2006 season, he moved up to A-division competition and emerged as one of the best skaters in the world.

He had a strong start on the World Cup circuit, notching a second-place finish in the 1,500 and a third-place finish in the 1,000. He also joined Steven Elm and Arne Dankers in the team pursuit. The men set a world record in November 2005.

The Canadian team of Arne Dankers, Steven Elm and Denny Morrison won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. (Marcus Brand/Getty Images)

In February, Morrison headed to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin with great expectations. He fell short in his individual events, finishing 11th in the 1,500 and 19th in the 1,000. He attributed the disappointing results to overconfidence, and said he had "started skating like a junior again." Nonetheless, he skated well in the team pursuit and took home a silver medal.

A few weeks later, Morrison competed in the world championships. Buoyed by his recent trip to the medal podium, he finished third in the 1,500, fourth in the 500 and fifth overall.

"Finishing fifth overall at the world championships is almost unheard of for a 20-year-old," his coach, Marcel Lacroix, told CBC Sports Online. "Keep in mind, Denny was competing in short track events just a few years ago. He's a very talented individual."

Morrison, who is based in Calgary, ended the season ranked second overall in the 1,500 and 15th in the 1,000. (He skipped several World Cup races in the latter distance.) His pursuit team ended the season ranked first in the world.

"Last season was an eye-opening year," Morrison told CBC Sports Online. "It helped me realize that speed skating is not just something I want to do for the next several years, but something I can do for the next several years."

Dutch favourite

Morrison has entered a brave new world, which means focusing on training, not on completing his science degree at the University of Calgary in the near future.

In the next few years, he hopes to spend the bulk of his time on the ice rather than in the workplace. "Maintaining a job while training, though possible, is not ideal. It doesn't allow you to train to the optimum possible level," he says.

Morrision has more fans than ever before – particularly in the Netherlands, where speed skating is incredibly popular.

"Since the Olympics, fans have approached me to shake my hand and offer words of encouragement. One couple told me they thought I would win the gold medal in the 1,000 at the Vancouver Games. They said they couldn't wait for that to happen."

Now that he's proven he has the goods, Morrison is under increased pressure to deliver. But it doesn't faze him.

"The pressure that others put on me is nothing compared to the pressure I put on myself," he says. "The difference is that other people put pressure on me to show excellent results on race day, while I put pressure on myself to skate as well as I possibly can during every training day in order to prepare myself for race day.

"I know that if I skate well in training, I'll be able to trust in my abilities and I won't have to worry about results when I step up to the starting line."

"He doesn't seem to feel pressure from outside sources," says Lacroix. "He only answers to himself. He knows he needs to focus on the process and not on the outcome."

Top dog

Lacroix sees much promise in Morrison, noting that the athlete has the discipline and "inner drive" necessary to end up on the medal podium at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

But right now, coach and athlete are focused on the present. Morrison's best results on the World Cup circuit so far this season are a pair of third-place finishes, one in the 1,000 and another in the team pursuit.

"The initial fall portion of this season was disappointing for me because I expected too much, too early," Morrison says. "But Marcel [Lacroix] has developed a program that will allow me to peak for the winter portion of the season."

Lacroix predicts Morrison will be "top dog" in this season's events, and the skater says he's up to the task. He also says he draws inspiration from his heightened public profile.

"Being chosen as the face of the World Cup speed skating final makes me feel as though people have noticed me – whether as an up-and-coming Olympic medal contender or as a World Cup medallist. It gives me confidence and it lights the fire inside me."