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".
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.
Christine Nesbitt is a Canadian retired long track speed skater who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She had previously won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She is also the 2011 sprint champion, 2012 1500 metres world champion, three-time world champion for 1000 metres, and three-time world champion for team pursuit. On 4 June 2015 she announced her retirement.
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.
Yekaterina Alexandrovna Lobysheva is a retired Russian speed skater. She won bronze medals in the team pursuit at the 2006 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Jenny Wolf is a former German speed skater. On 10 March 2007 at the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, she broke the world record for the women's 500 m in her second race. She finished sixth on the 500 m at the 2006 Winter Olympics of Turin, and tenth on the same distance in 2002.
Keiichiro Nagashima is a Japanese long track speed skater specialising in the sprint distances 500 and 1000 metres. Nagashima has won two World Cup races and has three Japanese domestic titles. He is a member of the Nidec Sankyo speed skating team.
Lee Kyou-hyuk is a South Korean retired long track speed skater who specializes in the 500 and 1,000 meters. He was the 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 World Sprint Speed Skating Champion and the 2011 World Champion for 500 m. He is one of four men to have won the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships four times.
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.
Martina Sáblíková is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in 2010. Sáblíková also competes in inline speed skating and road cycling races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In cycling, she focuses on individual time trial discipline in which Sáblíková holds multiple Czech Republic National Championships titles and belongs to the world's top 15 female time-trialists. Sáblíková is the elder sister of fellow speedskater Milan Sáblík.
Anne Marie Louise (Marieke) Wijsman is a Dutch former speed skater who represented her country in two Winter Olympics, and who was the first female speed skater to compete internationally on clap skates.
Moniek Kleinsman is a Dutch speed skater who was born in Bentelo, Overijssel, and currently resides in Wolvega. She competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Stefan Groothuis is a Dutch retired speed skater. He is the World Sprint Champion for 2012 and the gold medal winner in the 1000 metres at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Carien Kleibeuker is a Dutch former speed skater who is specialised in the long distances, 3000 and mainly 5000 metres. She is the current holder of the Dutch record on the 10,000 metres distances, as well as the current holder of the unofficial world one-hour record, with 40,569.56 metres skated.
Paulien van Deutekom was a Dutch champion speed skater who specialised in the middle to long distances, over 1000 and 1500 metres.
Barbara de Loor is a Dutch retired speed skater who was specialised in the middle long and longer distances, over 1000 to 5000 meters.
Liesbeth Mau Asam is a Dutch Short track speed skater who lives in Woubrugge and who has a relationship with Cees Juffermans.
Brittany Starr Bowe is an American speed skater and former inline skater and basketball player. She has won eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals from the world inline speedskating championships. From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals. She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games.
The men's 500 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 10 February 2014. Michel Mulder won the gold medal.
The women's 500 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 11 February 2014.
