| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | June 14, 2002 Scandiano, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Giorgia Birkeland (born June 14, 2002) is an Italian-born American speed skater. She competed in the women's mass start event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Birkeland started speed skating at the age of 8 in her hometown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. [1] In 2020, she made the national long-distance track team and competed at the World Junior Long Track Championships in Poland, finishing 11th place. [2] Birkeland later participated at the AmCup, placing fourth in the mass start event and fourth in the 3000m event. [1] She made the national team again for the 2021–22 season and placed seventh in the team pursuit event at the World Cup. [1]
At the 2022 US trials, Birkeland won the final qualifying race and was given Team USA's discretionary spot for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. [3] At the women's mass start event, she placed sixth in the second heat and advanced to the finals, where she finished in 12th place. [4] It was her first mass start race at the senior international level. [4]
At the Four Continents Championships in Calgary, Birkeland competed in four events, placing 10th in the 1000m, sixth in the 3000m event, fifth in the 1500m event, and winning the gold medal in the team pursuit event. [1]
Birkeland was born on June 14, 2002, in Scandiano, Italy. She grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and attended Mahtomedi High School. [3] She later moved to Utah to train with the national team, where she attends Salt Lake Community College. [1]
Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a length of 111.111 metres (364.54 ft). The rink itself is 60 metres (196.85 ft) long by 30 metres (98.43 ft) wide, which is the same size as an Olympic-sized figure skating rink and an international-sized ice hockey rink. Related sports include long-track speed skating and inline speed skating.
Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst is a Dutch former long track speed skater of German ancestry. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances. Wüst is also the only athlete to win an individual gold medal in five consecutive Olympics, Summer or Winter.
Lee Sang-hwa is a South Korean retired speed skater who specialises in the sprint distances. She is a two-time Olympic champion in 500 metres and the 2010 World Sprint champion. She is the current world record holder in women's 500 metres with the time of 36.36 seconds set in Salt Lake City on 16 November 2013, and also holds the South Korean record on 1000 metres. She has also won three World Championships medals in 500 metres, and has placed in the top three in World Cup events four times in this distance. Her first World Cup victory, however, came on the non-Olympic distance 100 metres. On the 1000 metres, however, she has never placed higher than fifth in international events.
Ted-Jan Bloemen is a Dutch-Canadian long track speed skater. He started competing for the Canadian national speed skating team during the 2014–15 season, but before that, he competed for the Netherlands in international competitions. Bloemen primarily competes in long-distance events as well as team pursuit events. He is a former world record holder for the 5,000 m (6:01.86), set in Salt Lake City, and was the Olympic record holder for the 10,000 m (12:39.77), set when he won gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Bloemen also won a silver medal in the 5,000 m at the Pyeongchang Olympics, the first Canadian man to medal in the distance since 1932. He has won a silver in 10,000 m and one bronze and silver in the team pursuit at the World Speed Skating Championships.
Valérie Maltais is a Canadian short track speed skater and speed skater. She has won six world championship medals, including finishing second overall in 2012.
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, as well as the overall gold, the first British woman and first European woman to do so.
Noh Seon-yeong is a South Korean speed skater who holds the national record for the women's long track speed skating 1500 metres. She represented her country at four Winter Olympic Games.
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.
Shim Suk-hee is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion and a World Champion (2014).
The 2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, officially the Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating 2013–2014, was a series of international speed skating competitions that ran the entire season. The season started on 8 November 2013 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and concluded with the final on 16 March 2014 in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Compared to previous seasons, there were fewer competition weekends; the season was restricted due to the 2014 Winter Olympics, which were arranged in Sochi, Russia, during February 2014. In total, six competition weekends were held at six different locations, twelve cups were contested, and 72 races took place.
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.
Olga Borisovna Graf is a Russian speed skater. Graf competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where she won bronze medals both in the 3000 metres event and in the team pursuit.
Irene Schouten is a Dutch speed skater who competes in allround marathon and inline-skating events. She is a five-time Olympic medalist and a triple Olympic Champion, having won the 3,000m, 5,000m, and mass start events at the 2022 Beijing Games. As of 12 February 2022, she holds the Olympic record in both distances. Her coach is Jillert Anema.
Nana Takagi is a Japanese former speed skater who is a member of the Nidec Sankyo speed skating team.
Choi Min-jeong is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a three-time Olympic Champion, a four-time World Champion, Four Continents Champion (2020), and the current world record holder for 1500m. Along with Chun Lee-kyung and Jin Sun-yu, Choi is widely regarded as one of the best female Korean short track speed skaters of all time.
Miho Takagi is a Japanese speed skater. She has won a total of seven medals at the Olympics, two of them gold.
Carlijn Schoutens is a Dutch-American speed skater who qualified for the U.S. team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the women's 3000 meter event, the women’s 5000 meter event and the Ladies Team Pursuit.
Ramona Härdi is a Swiss speed-skater. She competed for Switzerland at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the ladies' mass start.
Laura Isabel Gómez Quintero, also simply known as Laura Gómez, is a Colombian female speed skater who was a professional roller skater during her early career. She took the sport of speed skating only in late July 2017 and broke several Colombian national records for women within six months after engaging in speed skating before impressing the selectors to name herself at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She competed in the women's 3000m mass start event.
Speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, China between 5 and 19 February 2022. It was the 24th time speed skating was held at the Winter Olympics.
