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:
Most famous race is the Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities) ice skating marathon (200 kilometers) on frozen canals in The Netherlands.
Marathon Ice Speed Skaters Erik Jan Kooiman and Carien Kleibeuker currently possess the world hour record men (43,735.94 meters) and ladies (40,569.68 meters).
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".
Jochem Simon Uytdehaage is a Dutch former long track speed skater who won two Olympic gold medals in Salt Lake City and was the 2002 World Allround champion. He retired in 2007 at the age of 30, following two consecutive seasons of poor results.
The Elfstedentocht is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition and a leisure tour. The Elfstedentocht is the biggest ice-skating tour in the world.
Inline speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called inline racing or speed skating by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice speed skating that many competitors are known to switch between inline and ice speed skating according to the season.
Chad Hedrick is an American inline speed skater and ice speed skater. He was born in Spring, Texas.
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ice skating during the 1800s marked a rise in the deliberate construction of ice rinks in numerous areas of the world.
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.
Tour skating is recreational long distance ice skating on natural ice. It is particularly popular in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. It is becoming more popular in areas of North America such as New England, Southcentral Alaska, and Nova Scotia.
Sven Kramer is a retired 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 used to be the 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 all round 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 teammate Patrick Roest and Jordan Stolz.
Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena, or M-Wave, is a covered speed skating oval in the city of Nagano, Japan. M-Wave, which opened in November, 1996, was constructed for the speed skating events at the 1998 Winter Olympics. It was Japan's first International Skating Union (ISU) standard indoor 400m double-track, and only second indoor track speed skating in Japan. The other, Meiji Hokkaido-Tokachi Oval, is located in Obihiro, Hokkaido.
Henk Angenent is a retired Dutch speed skater, specialising in marathon skating and the longer distances. Angenent won the Elfstedentocht on 4 January 1997, outsprinting favourite Erik Hulzebosch at the finish.
William Christian Dutton is a world class Canadian speed skater. He participated in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Kjeld Nuis is a Dutch speed skater.
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.
The men's 5000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 6 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. The event was won by Nils van der Poel of Sweden. Patrick Roest of the Netherlands won the silver medal, and Hallgeir Engebråten of Norway the bronze medal. For van der Poel and Engebråten these are the first Olympic medals. Van der Poel's medal was the first Olympic medal in speed skating for Sweden since 1988, when Tomas Gustafson won both 5000 m and 10000 m.
The men's 10,000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the event, a few days after winning the 5000 m distance, and set a new world record. Patrick Roest of the Netherlands won the silver medal, and Davide Ghiotto of Italy the bronze, his first individual Olympic medal.
