Speed Skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics

After the introduction of the mass start in 2018, the speed skating program remained the same. The overall number of participants was reduced, however, from 180 to 166, as were the number of starters per event (at most 30, down from 36) and per NOC (at most 9, down from 10).

The competitions were held at the National Speed Skating Oval, built at the site of the 2008 Olympic field hockey and archery venues. A modern and spacey venue, the rink was praised by many skaters, even though COVID-19 restrictions had prevented staging of a serious speed skating competition prior to the Olympics, meaning nobody knew who fast it was.

Winning times turned out to be of a high level, on par with the best lowland rinks. Competitions saw most of the Olympic records beaten, and one case even the world record, which came courtesy of one of the two stars of the oval, Nils van der Poel. The Swede not only took the 5,000 m/10,000 m double, bettering his own world best in the later event, but also made headlines with his remarkable training approach, quotes, and post-Olympic actions.

Van der Poel’s medal haul was topped by Netherlands’ Irene Schouten, who also won the two longest distances, but added gold in the mass start and bronze in the team pursuit. Japan’s Miho Takagi also earned four medals, one gold and three silver medals. Of note, Ireen Wüst won her sixth gold medal in the sport, as well as her 12th and 13th medals overall, both records.

As in the past two Olympics, the Netherlands won most of the speed skating medals (12) and most of the golds (6) but was less dominant than in Sochi and PyeongChang. A record eight NOCs won gold medals in the sport, including the first ever for Belgium, the first for Sweden since 1988, the first for the USA since 2010, and the first ever for a Chinese man.

Outside of the medals, Argentina made its speed skating début through María Victoria Rodríguez, while Great Britain’s return to Olympic speed skating after 30 years was accomplished by the couple Cornelius Kersten and Ellia Smeding. Claudia Pechstein also appeared at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games, and she competed in Beijing for the eighth time, becoming only the second Winter Olympian to achieve this, as well as the oldest female Winter Olympian in any sport.