Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Adrianus Schenk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Dutch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 16 September 1944 Anna Paulowna, Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 90 kg (198 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Speed skating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turned pro | 1973 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1974 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 500 m: 39.8 (1971) 1000 m: 1:20.6 (1968) 1500 m: 2:05.3 (1966) 3000 m: 4:08.3 (1972) 5000 m: 7:09.8 (1972) 10 000 m: 14:55.9 (1971) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Adrianus "Ard" Schenk (born 16 September 1944) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands, who is considered to be one of the best in history. His first Olympic success came in 1968, when he won a silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics. Between 1970 and 1972 Winter Olympics, Schenk won three consecutive World Allround Speed Skating Championships. He won three gold medals at the 1972 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Galina Kulakova of Soviet Union, the most successful athlete there.
Schenk competed in international meets from 1964 on, winning his first medal at the 1965 world championships and his first gold medal at the 1966 European championships. In the late 60s, Schenk was usually bested by his compatriot Kees Verkerk, but in the early 1970s he dominated international speed skating. The winning duo of Ard & Keesie were responsible for a lasting popularity of speed skating in the Netherlands.
Schenk's career peaked in 1972. He won three gold medals during the Olympic Games in Sapporo (a fall on the 500 m precluded gold in all 4 distances). Had the 1000 meters already been an Olympic distance, Schenk would have been the favorite for gold, as he had won five of the six 1000 meter races at World Sprint Championship he participated in. The same year, he also won the European Allround and the World Allround Championships. He became World Allround Champion by winning all 4 distances, a feat that nobody had achieved since Ivar Ballangrud 40 years earlier, and which only Eric Heiden has repeated since (in 1979). Finally, he won bronze that year at the World Sprint Championships.
The next season (1973), he turned professional with a number of other prominent speed skaters, [1] thereby foregoing the opportunity of winning more championships. The professional circuit lasted two seasons and Schenk retired from speed skating at the relatively young age of 30.
Schenk was the first to skate the 10,000 meters within 15 minutes, and the first skater to finish the 1500 meters in less than 2 minutes. Over the course of his career he broke a total of 18 (senior) world records, a feat no skater before or after him has bettered. Among men, the sprint specialist Jeremy Wotherspoon came closest with his 16th world record in 2007, [2] while among women long-distance specialist Gunda Niemann equalled Schenk's mark in 2001. [3] By March 1971, Schenk held 6 of the 7 official world records at the same time, missing only the 500 m. [4] His 1000 m record was broken in March 1972 by Erhard Keller, but the other five stood until 1975 to 1978, when world records started to be skated at the high-altitude rink of Medeo.
Discipline | Time | Date | Location |
---|---|---|---|
1500 m | 2:06.2 | 26 January 1966 | Davos |
3000 m | 4:26.2 | 29 January 1966 | Inzell |
1500 m | 2:05.3 | 30 January 1966 | Inzell |
3000 m | 4:18.4 | 25 February 1967 | Inzell |
1000 m | 1:20.6 | 28 February 1967 | Inzell |
1000 m | 1:20.6 | 5 February 1968 | Davos |
3000 m | 4:12.6 | 15 January 1971 | Davos |
1500 m | 1:58.7 | 16 January 1971 | Davos |
Big combination | 171.317 | 31 January 1971 | Oslo |
10000 m | 15:01.6 | 14 February 1971 | Gothenburg |
Big combination | 171.130 | 14 February 1971 | Gothenburg |
1000 m | 1:18.8 | 20 February 1971 | Inzell |
5000 m | 7:12.0 | 13 March 1971 | Inzell |
10000 m | 14:55.9 | 14 March 1971 | Inzell |
Big combination | 168.248 | 14 March 1971 | Inzell |
3000 m | 4:08.3 | 2 March 1972 | Inzell |
5000 m | 7:09.8 | 4 March 1972 | Inzell |
Big combination | 167.420 | 5 March 1972 | Inzell |
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com [5]
Personal records [6] | ||||
Men's speed skating | ||||
Event | Result | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
500 meter | 38.9 | 15 January 1971 | Davos | |
1000 meter | 1:18.8 | 20 February 1971 | Inzell | |
1500 meter | 1:58.7 | 16 January 1971 | Davos | |
3000 meter | 4:08.3 | 2 March 1972 | Inzell | |
5000 meter | 7:09.8 | 4 March 1972 | Inzell | |
10000 meter | 14:55.9 | 14 March 1971 | Inzell | |
Big combination | 167.420 | 5 March 1972 | Inzell |
Schenk has an Adelskalender score of 166.241 points. He was number one on the Adelskalender from 13 January 1966 until 27 February 1967 and again from 13 February 1971 until 19 March 1976 for a total of 6 years and 58 days. The Adelskalender is an all-time allround speed skating ranking. [7]
Season | Dutch Championships Allround | ISU European Championships Allround | Olympic Games | ISU* World Championships Allround | ISU World Championships Sprint | ISSL* European Championships Allround | ISSL World Championships Allround |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1963–1964 | DEVENTER 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 9th 10000m overall | INNSBRUCK 13th 1500m | HELSINKI 9th 500m 15th 5000m 11th 1500m 13th 10000m 7th overall | ||||
1964–1965 | AMSTERDAM 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | GOTHENBURG 500m 12th 5000m 10th 1500m 6th 10000m 5th overall | OSLO 6th 500m 10th 5000m 1500m 6th 10000m overall | ||||
1965–1966 | DEVENTER 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | DEVENTER 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | GOTHENBURG 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 4th 10000m overall | ||||
1966–1967 | AMSTERDAM 500m 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall | LAHTI 32nd 500m 5000m 10th 1500m 4th 10000m 15th overall | OSLO 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | ||||
1967–1968 | AMSTERDAM 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall | OSLO 4th 500m 7th 5000m 10th 1500m 8th 10000m 6th overall | GRENOBLE 13th 500m 1500m | GOTHENBURG 500m 8th 5000m 1500m 8th 10000m overall | |||
1968–1969 | HEERENVEEN 500m 5000m 5th 1500m 5th 10000m overall | INZELL 6th 500m 4th 5000m 5th 1500m 13th 10000m 4th overall | DEVENTER 9th 500m 5000m 28th 1500m 8th 10000m 13th overall | ||||
1969–1970 | DEVENTER 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | INNSBRUCK 4th 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall | OSLO 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | WEST ALLIS 16th 500m 1000m 19th 500m 1000m 6th overall | |||
1970–1971 | AMSTERDAM 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall | HEERENVEEN 500m 11th 5000m 1500m 3rd 10000m overall | GOTHENBURG 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | INZELL 10th 500m 1000m 11th 500m 1000m overall | |||
1971–1972 | DAVOS 500m 5000m 1500m 5th 10000m overall | SAPPORO 34th 500m 1500m 5000m 10000m | OSLO 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | ESKILSTUNA 16th 500m 1000m 16th 500m 1000m overall | |||
1972–1973 | SKIEN 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | GOTHENBURG 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | |||||
1973–1974 | TYNSET 4th 500m 8th 5000m 7th 1500m 6th 10000m 6th overall |
Source: [8]
Championship | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
Dutch Allround | 3 | 4 | 1 |
European Allround | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Olympic Games | 3 | 1 | 0 |
World Allround | 3 | 2 | 2 |
World Sprint | 0 | 0 | 2 |
ISSL European Allround | 1 | 0 | 0 |
ISSL World Allround | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Johann Olav Koss, is a former speed skater from Norway. He won four Olympic gold medals, including three at the 1994 Winter Olympics in his home country.
Ivar Eugen Ballangrud was a Norwegian speed skater, a four-time Olympic champion in speed skating. As the only triple gold medalist at the 1936 Winter Olympics, Ballangrud was the most successful athlete there.
Nikolay Alekseyevich Gulyayev is a former speed skater, considered among the world's best in the 1980s.
Cornelis Arie "Kees" Verkerk is a former speed skater from the Netherlands.
Knut ("Kupper'n") Johannesen is a former speed skater from Norway.
Jan Egil Storholt is a former speed skater from Norway. He was born in Løkken Verk which at the time was part of the Meldal municipality.
Hans van Helden is a former speed skater, originally competing for the Netherlands, later for France.
Christina ("Stien") Wilhelmina Baas-Kaiser was a Dutch speed skater.
Atje Keulen-Deelstra was a Dutch speed skater, who was a four-time World Allround Champion between the age of 32 and 36.
Per Ivar Moe is a former speed skater from Norway.
Johanna ("Ans") Schut is a former ice speed skater from the Netherlands.
Carolina ("Carry") Cornelia Catharina Geijssen is a former speed skater from the Netherlands.
Verné Lesche, married Vanberg was a speed skater from Finland who twice won the World Allround Championships. Lesche was born in Helsinki, Finland, and already skated a world record in 1933 when she was only 15 years old. Her successes continued and she won the world title for the first time in 1939, when Tampere hosted the World Allround Championships. She won it for the second time in Drammen in 1947, making her the only speed skater in history to have won a medal at the World Allround Championships both before and after World War II. At those 1947 World Championships, Lesche won all four distances and the difference in samalog points with the silver medallist, Norwegian skater Else Marie Christiansen, was 20.923 points – the largest difference in history between numbers one and two at an international championship. Of this 20.923 point difference, 6.983 points were the difference between Lesche and Christiansen on the 3,000 m, while Lesche recorded a 9.690 point difference over Christiansen on the 5,000 m by skating that distance 1 minute and 36.9 seconds faster than the Norwegian.
Bjørg Eva Jensen is a speed skater from Norway. She had her best year in 1980, when she became junior world allround champion, finished third at the senior allround world championships, and won the 3,000 m event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
Magne Thomassen is a former speed skater from Norway. He participated in international championships over a period of more than ten years. He took part in 23 country matches for Norway in the period 1959–1971 and competed in the European Speed Skating Championships, World Allround Speed Skating Championships and World Sprint Speed Skating Championships between 1962 and 1972.
Dag Fornæss is a former speed skater from Norway who won the Norwegian, European, and World Allround Championships in 1969. He was born in Hamar.
Per Willy Guttormsen is a former Norwegian speed skater and cyclist. He was among the world's best long distance skaters in the 1960s.
Rolf Göran Claeson is a former speed skater from Sweden.
Sergey Vasilyevich Marchuk was a Russian speed skater.
Jan Bols is a former Dutch long track speed skater. Bols was among the top all-rounders in the late 60s and early 70s, this period overlapped the glory days of Kees Verkerk and Ard Schenk, so that he tends to be known as the third best Dutch skater of his time.