| World Allround Speed Skating Championships | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Thialf | |||||||||||||
| Location | Heerenveen, Netherlands | ||||||||||||
| Venue | Thialf | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 15-17 March 2002 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 48 | ||||||||||||
| Medalist men | |||||||||||||
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| Medalist women | |||||||||||||
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The 2002 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands, on 15, 16 and 17 March 2002.
Thialf is an ice arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The stadium is used for long track speed skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, figure skating, ice speedway, and non-sports events. The outdoor rink was opened in 1967, and the indoor stadium was opened in 1986. Several world records were set in the indoor stadium. Annually, Thialf hosts two Speed Skating World Cup events. The arena has a capacity of 12,500 seats. Jan de Jong was the ice rink master at Thialf for many years.
Heerenveen is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslan), in the north of the Netherlands. The town has gained international prominence in speed skating, for it has the fastest lowland speed skating rink in the world.
The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe with some overseas territories in the Caribbean. In Europe, it consists of 12 provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with those countries and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba—it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian. In the northern parts of the country, Low Saxon is also spoken.
Contents
- Men championships
- Allround results
- Men championships 2
- Women championships
- Allround results 2
- Rules
- References
The German Anni Friesinger and the Dutch Jochem Uytdehaage became the world champions.
Anna ("Anni") Christine Friesinger-Postma is a German former speed skater. Her father Georg Friesinger, of Germany, and mother Janina ("Jana") Korowicka, of Poland, were both skaters; Jana was on the Polish team at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Her brother Jan is also a speed skater. Her sister Agnes is a former speed skater. In July 2010, Friesinger retired from her active sports career when she had to be treated for severe cartilage damage in her right knee joint.
Jochem Simon Uytdehaage is a Dutch former long track speed skater who won two Olympic gold medals in Salt Lake City and was the 2002 World allround champion. He retired in 2007 at the age of 30, following two consecutive seasons of poor results.
