 Walter in 2012 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Bianca Walter |
| Nationality | German |
| Born | 31 March 1990 Dresden, East Germany [1] |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Short track speed skating |
Bianca Merker [2] (born Bianca Walter; 31 March 1990) is a German short track speed skater. She competed in the women's 500 metres at the 2018 Winter Olympics. [3]
Walter was born in 1990 in EV Dresden. She was the daughter of the former speed skater Skadi Walter and she was brought up in an enthusiastic family of skaters. Her mother was a successful skater [4] and her grandmother was a figure skating coach. Walter was on skates at the age of three and by age of nine, she experimented with the short track at the former ESC Dresden.
In 2006 she became a member of the German Ladies Short Track national team when she was 16 and she made her international debut in the 2006/07 World Cup season in Saguenay in Canada, The same year she competed in the Junior World Championships where she was beaten in the heats. [5] Walter won her first silver medal with German team at the European Championships in Turin.
Bonnie Kathleen Blair is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winning five gold medals and one bronze medal.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger is a former speed skater and track cyclist. She was born in Weißwasser, East Germany. Luding is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and the first female to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Games. She is the only athlete to win Winter and Summer Olympic medals in the same year (1988), a feat that is no longer possible due to the staggering of the Winter and Summer Olympic years. In speed skating, she is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, while she is an Olympic silver medallist in cycling.
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Elise Christie is a British former short track speed skater. She was coached by Nicky Gooch and she specialised in the 1000m event. She is ten times a European gold medallist, 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, along with the overall gold, marking her as the first British woman and first European woman to achieve such a feat.
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Ivanie Blondin is a Canadian speed skater. She primarily skates in the long distances of 3000 m and 5000 m and the mass start event. Blondin won a silver medal in the mass start event at the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships and a gold medal in the same event at the 2020 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships. She also won the silver medal at the 2020 World Allround Speed Skating Championships. She won a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's team pursuit.
Zsófia Kónya is a Hungarian short track speed skater, member of the national team. She was 3rd place on the European Championships in 2014 and 3rd placed in the Winter Universiade in 2013. She qualified and was expected to compete in Sochi at the Winter Olympic Games in 2014, representing Hungary.
Lara Victoria van Ruijven was a Dutch short track speed skater. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she was part of the Dutch 3000 metres relay team that won a bronze medal. She won gold at the World Championships one year later. By doing so, she became the first Dutch woman to win a world short track title at an individual event.
Yara van Kerkhof is a Dutch short track speed skater. She won the silver medal in the 500 m event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Kathryn Thomson is a British short track speed skater who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Skadi Walter was a German speed skater. She competed in the women's 500 metres at the 1984 Winter Olympics. Her daughter is the speed skater Bianca Walter.
Sylke Luding is a former East German long track speed skater, who was active between 1982 and 1991. She was a member of SC Einheit Dresden and the East Germany national sprint team and represented her nation at international competitions.
