Synchronized skating is a gender neutral sport where between eight and twenty figure skaters perform together as a team. They move as a flowing unit at high speed over the ice, while completing complicated footwork and elements. This complex sport was originated in 1956 was first called "precision skating," because of the emphasis on maintaining precise formations and timing of the group. Synchronized skating's popularity has grow immensely over the past 40 years and has been quickly embraced by several European countries who have produced teams that dominate international championships year after year. Today there are more than 600 synchro teams in the United States alone.
The Adler Arena Trade And Exhibition Center (Адлер-Арена) is an 8,000-seat speed skating oval in the Olympic Park, Sochi, Russia. It opened in 2012 and looks like an iceberg or ice fault. The center hosted the speed skating events at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Original plans for after the Olympics were for the Adler Arena to be turned into an exhibition center.
Jan Blokhuijsen is an Olympic award-winning Dutch long-track speed skater who until 2013 skated for the commercial TVM ploeg.
The men's 10,000 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 18 February 2014.
Elise Christie is a British short track speed skater. She is coached by Nicky Gooch and she specialises in the 1000m event. She is ten times a European gold medalist, including two overall European titles in 2015 and 2016. In the 2017 World Championships in Rotterdam she won world titles in the 1000m and 1500m events, as well as the overall gold, the first British woman and first European woman to do so.
Bart Swings is a Belgian long track speed skater and multiple European and world champion inline speed skater. He is the world record holder on 10,000 m inline speed skating with 14:41.425.
The 2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships took place between 21 and 24 March 2013 in the Adler Arena, Sochi, Russia. It was a test event for the 2014 Olympic Games.
Denis Igoryevich Yuskov is a Russian speed skater. He is a three-time gold medalist in men's 1500 meters at the World Single Distance Championships and the World Cup-2016 holder at the distance 1500 m.
Zbigniew Marcin Bródka is a Polish speed skater and a 2014 Olympic champion in 1500 metres. He also works as a firefighter in the State Fire Service station in Łowicz.
Brittany Starr Bowe is an American speed skater and former inline skater and basketball player. She has eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals from the world inline speedskating championships. From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals. She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games.
Jorien ter Mors is a Dutch speed skater on both short track and long track. She was the Olympic champion in the 1500 metres and team pursuit at the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 1000 metres at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Jan Marek Szymański, Polish pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈmaɾɛk ʂɨˈmaɲski]) is a Polish speed skater. He is the current holder of the Polish records in 3000 and 5000 metres.
The 2014 European Speed Skating Championships, officially the Essent ISU European Speed Skating Championships 2014, were held in Hamar, Norway, from 11 to 12 January 2014.
The 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, officially the Essent ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships 2014, were held in Nagano, Japan, from 18 to 19 January 2014.
Han Tianyu is a Chinese short-track speed-skater. He won the silver medal in men's 1500 metres short track speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics, behind the Canadian skater Charles Hamelin, who won the gold medal.
Kim Cheol-min is a South Korean speed skater.
Kim Hyun-yung is a South Korean speed-skater.
Nana Takagi is a Japanese speed skater who is a member of the Nidec Sankyo speed skating team.
The 2013 European Speed Skating Championships was the 38th continental allround speed skating event for women and the 107th for men. The championships were held at the Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands, from 11 through 13 January 2013. Both the men's and women's championship consisted of four separate distance events and the winners are the skaters with the lowest points total after four distances. The competition was also a qualifying event for the 2013 World Allround Speed Skating Championships as the entry quotas were allocated according to the results of the European Championships. Sven Kramer and Ireen Wüst won the European titles.
