The International Skating Union organises the following World Championships in the sport of speed skating:
The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union.
Speed skating is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, short track speedskating, inline speedskating, and quad speed skating are also called speed skating.
Sven Kramer is a Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 meters at the Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, and won a record 21 gold medals at the World Single Distance Championships; eight in the 5000 meters, five in the 10,000 meters, and eight in the team pursuit. Kramer is the current world record holder in the team pursuit, and broke the world records in the 5000 meter and 10,000 meter events three times. By winning the 2010 World Allround Championship, Kramer became the first speed skater in history to win four consecutive world allround championships, and eight consecutive international allround championships. He was undefeated in the 18 international allround championships he participated in from the 2006/2007 season until the 2016/2017 season. From November 2007 to March 2009 he was ranked first in the Adelskalender, but despite his dominance as an all-round skater he has since been overtaken on that list by Shani Davis and, more recently, by his team mate Patrick Roest.
The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, a number of competitions on different distances and on different locations are held. Skaters can earn points at each competition, and the skater who has the most points on a given distance at the end of the series is the winner. Initially not very popular with skaters nor spectators, the World Cup has gradually become more and more popular, and this was due to the creation of the World Single Distance Championships. The results of the separate distances in the World Cup ranking are the main qualifying method for the World Single Distance Championships.
Maki Tabata is a Japanese speed skater and cyclist.
Martina Sáblíková is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in the 2010 Olympiad. Sáblíková also competes in inline speed skating and road cycling races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In cycling, she focuses especially on individual time trial discipline in which Sáblíková holds multiple Czech Republic National Championships titles and belongs to world's top 15 female time-trialists. Sáblíková is the elder sister of fellow speedskater Milan Sáblík.
Kim Bo-reum is a South Korean speed skater. She is the current South Korean record holder in the women's long track speed skating 3000 and 5000 metres. She is a two-time Olympian and specialises in the women's mass start.
The 2001 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 9 and 11 March 2001 in the Utah Olympic Oval.
The 2000 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 3 and 5 March 2000 in the M-Wave, Nagano, Japan.
The 1999 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 12 and 14 March 1999 in the Thialf, Heerenveen, Netherlands.
The 1998 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 27 and 29 March 1998 in the Olympic Oval, Calgary, Canada.
The 1997 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 7 and 9 March 1997 in the Tor Stegny, Warsaw, Poland.
The 1996 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 15 and 17 March 1996 in the Vikingskipet, Hamar, Norway. This was the first World Single Distance championships.
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.
Pavel Aleksandrovich Kulizhnikov is a Russian speed skater. He won the men's 500 metres event at the 2015 World Single Distance Championships as well as the 2015 World Sprint Championships, becoming the youngest winner since speed skating icon Eric Heiden of the United States. In 2015, he became the first speed skater to finish the 500-meter in under 34 seconds with a world record of 33.98. In 2020 he became the first speed skater to break 1:06 in the 1000 metres. At the 2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships, Kulizhnikov won the men's 500 m and 1000 m, becoming the first man to win gold in both distances at the same speed skating World Single Distances Championships.
The 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held between 11 and 14 February 2016 in Kolomna, Russia.
The Men's 10,000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 11 February 2016.
The 2017 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held between 9 and 12 February 2017 at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, South Korea.
