Speed Skating

Facts

Discipline of Skating
Participants 1753
NOCs 44
Competitions held 202 (Venues)
Distinct events 25
IF International Skating Union

Description

Speed skating emerged on the canals of Holland as early as the 13th century. Competition has been held in the Netherlands since at least 1676. The sport spread throughout Europe and national competitions were held in the 1870s.

The first World Championships were contested in 1889, although the International Skating Union (ISU) held its first championships in 1893, one year after its formation. The ISU was formed in 1892, the first true international governing body of any winter sport, and it also governs figure skating and short track speed skating. As of 2022, the ISU has 102 members. However, because several nations have both a figure skating and a speed skating member, only 81 nations are represented in the ISU.

Speed skating was contested at the 1924 Olympic Winter Games and has been on the Olympic Program since. Women first competed in speed skating at the Winter Olympics in 1932 as a demonstration sport. As a full medal sport, women’s speed skating was planned for 1940, but did not actually begin until 1960.

Olympic speed skating has almost always been contested in the European system of skating time trials in two-man pairs. At Lake Placid 1932, the Americans convinced the ISU to hold the events in the North American style of pack racing. Several top Europeans boycotted the events as a result, and the Americans won all four gold medals. In 2014 a mass start event for men and women was added to the Olympic speed skating programme.

At the last few Winter Olympics, the Netherlands has been absolutely dominant in speed skating. They are the all-time national leader, with 133 medals and 48 gold medals through 2022. They are followed in the medal list by the United States (30 golds, 71 medals), Norway (28 golds, 87 medals), and the former Soviet Union (24 golds, 60 medals).

In 1980, the United States’ Eric Heiden won all five available gold medals, a dominance in speed skating matched only by the USSR’s Lidiya Skoblikova, who won all four women’s events in 1964. In the men’s competition, Heiden’s five gold medals are equaled by Finland’s Clas Thunberg. The overall male medal count is led by Dutch skater Sven Kramer, with nine Olympic medals. Skoblikova’s leads the women’s gold medal count, with six golds, the same as Dutchwoman Ireen Wüst. Wüst is the most decorated Olympic speed skater, with a record 13 medals.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Netherlands NED 48 44 41 133
United States USA 30 22 19 71
Norway NOR 28 29 30 87
Soviet Union URS 24 17 19 60
Germany GER 14 16 10 40
Canada CAN 10 16 16 42
Sweden SWE 9 4 5 18
East Germany GDR 8 12 9 29
Finland FIN 7 8 9 24
Japan JPN 5 10 11 26
Republic of Korea KOR 5 10 5 20
Russian Federation RUS 3 5 5 13
Czechia CZE 3 2 3 8
West Germany FRG 3 0 0 3
People's Republic of China CHN 2 3 4 9
Italy ITA 2 1 4 7
Austria AUT 1 2 3 6
Poland POL 1 2 3 6
Belgium BEL 1 1 1 3
ROC ROC 0 1 2 3
Belarus BLR 0 1 0 1
Democratic People's Republic of Korea PRK 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan KAZ 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Republic of Korea KOR 7 2 4 13
People's Republic of China CHN 6 6 3 15
Netherlands NED 4 1 1 6
Japan JPN 3 6 5 14
Mixed team MIX 2 2 2 6
Russian Federation RUS 0 1 2 3
Belarus BLR 0 1 0 1
Colombia COL 0 1 0 1
Czechia CZE 0 1 0 1
Spain ESP 0 1 0 1
Italy ITA 0 0 2 2
Norway NOR 0 0 2 2
United States USA 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Ireen Wüst NED 6 5 2 13
Lidiya Skoblikova RUS
URS
6 0 0 6
Claudia Pechstein GER 5 2 2 9
Clas Thunberg FIN 5 1 1 7
Bonnie Blair USA 5 0 1 6
Eric Heiden USA 5 0 0 5
Sven Kramer NED 4 2 3 9
Ivar Ballangrud NOR 4 2 1 7
Yevgeny Grishin RUS
URS
4 1 0 5
Johann Olav Koss NOR 4 1 0 5

Youth Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Yang Fan CHN 3 0 0 3
Motonaga Arito JPN 2 1 0 3
Sanneke de Neeling NED 2 1 0 3
Park Ji-Wu KOR 2 0 0 2
Kim Min-Seok KOR 2 0 0 2
Jang Mi KOR 2 0 0 2
Jeong Jae-Ung KOR 1 1 1 3
Liu An CHN 1 1 0 2
Kim Min-Seon KOR 1 0 1 2
Yukino Yoshida JPN 1 0 1 2
Yang Binyu CHN 1 0 1 2
Noemi Bonazza ITA 1 0 1 2

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
500 metres Men 24
1,000 metres Men 13
1,500 metres Men 24
5,000 metres Men 24
10,000 metres Men 24
Mass Start Men 2
Team Pursuit (8 laps) Men 5
500 metres Women 18
1,000 metres Women 18
1,500 metres Women 18
3,000 metres Women 17
5,000 metres Women 10
Mass Start Women 2
Team Pursuit (6 laps) Women 5
500 metres Boys 3
1,500 metres Boys 3
3,000 metres Boys 1
Mass Start Boys 3
500 metres Girls 3
1,500 metres Girls 3
3,000 metres Girls 1
Mass Start Girls 3
Team Sprint Mixed Youth 2
Relay Mixed Youth 0
Allround Men 1