Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of competitive ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating". Long track speed skating takes place on a 400m ice track, while short track takes place on a 111m track.
KC Boutiette is an American speed skater from Tacoma, Washington, and a four-time Olympian. He was first of the wave of inline speed skaters, and made the transition from inline to ice, in order to have a shot at going to the Olympics.
Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as 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.
Pieter "Piet" Kleine is a former speed skater from the Netherlands who specialized in the longer distances.
Hilbert van der Duim is a Dutch former speed skater. A two-time world and European champion, Van der Duim "won often but also fell often", and has become famous for some of the incidents that happened to him during his career.
Roberto Sighel is an Italian former speedskater, with particularly strong achievements in the allround samalogue competitions.
Jan Maarten Heideman is a Dutch speed skater who specialises in marathon speed skating.
Andrès Landman is a Dutch marathon speed skater.
Kurt Wubben is a Dutch marathon speed skater.
Cédric Michaud is a French marathon speed skater.
Daniëlle Bekkering is a Dutch marathon speed skater, short track speed skater, and cyclist who currently lives in Den Ham (Groningen). Bekkering has several nicknames like Beeks, Daantje and Dikkie Dik. Her sister Eyelien is also a cyclist.
Erik Hulzebosch is a Dutch marathon speed skater, inline speed skater and part-time singer and blogger at his own website.
Yep Kramer is a Dutch-Frisian long track and marathon speed skater. He is the father of speed skaters Sven Kramer and Brecht Kramer.
Casper Helling is a Dutch speedskater, specialising in marathon skating and the longer distances. On 15 March 2007 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, Helling skated 41.969 km in one hour, which was the current world record in this event. Helling's result was 300 m better than the previous world record, set by Henk Angenent in March 2004. It was bested by Douwe de Vries who covered 42.252 km in one hour on March 14, 2015. Among his other achievements is a gold medal on the 10,000-m in the Dutch single distances championship for the 2001–2002 season. In recent years Casper Helling has won 3 races of 200 km distance on natural ice: Kuopio, Finland, in 2004, Kuopio, Finland in 2008 and Weissensee, Austria in 2009.
Jacob Jorrit Bergsma is a Dutch speed skater and marathon skater. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m. His coach is Jillert Anema.
The Dutch Marathon Championships is a speed skating event composed of two championships. One on natural ice and one on artificial ice.
Evert van Benthem is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.
Sjoerd Huisman was a Dutch speed skater who specialised in marathon speed skating.
Ice skating marathons are long distance speed skating races which may be held on natural ice on canals, and bodies of water such as lakes and rivers. Marathon is a discipline of speed skating, which is founded in The Netherlands. The races concern speed skating by at least five skaters who start all together on an ice rink with a minimum length of 333.33 meters or on a track:
Anne Tauber is a female Dutch cross-country mountain biker and marathon speed skater, who currently rides for UCI mountain bike team CST POSTNL BAFANG and skates for Van Ramshorst / Blue Dune.
