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".
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948, were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936.
The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1928, were an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, four speed skating events were scheduled, all for men, but medals were only awarded for three events, because the 10.000 m event was not completed. The Allround event, which was only organized in 1924, was removed from the program. The competitions were held on Monday, 13 February 1928 and on Tuesday, 14 February 1928.
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.
Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.
Bernt Sverre Evensen was a Norwegian speed skater and racing cyclist who competed in skating at the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympics.
The United States competed at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Denmark sent a delegation to compete at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria from 29 January to 9 February 1964. This was Denmark's fourth time participating in a Winter Olympic Games. The Danish delegation consisted of two athletes, cross-country skier Svend Carlsen and speed skater Kurt Stille. Carlsen placed outside the top 50 in both his events. Stille finished 9th in the men's 10,000 meters, the best performance by a Danish athlete at these Games.
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.
Irving Warren Jaffee was an American speed skater who won two gold medals at the 1932 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there along with his compatriot Jack Shea. It was the first time two Americans had won medals in speed skating at a Winter Olympics.
The 500 metres speed skating event was part of the speed skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics programme. The competition was held on Monday, 13 February 1928. Thirty-three speed skaters from 14 nations competed.
Mirko Vuillermin is a retired Italian short track speed skater who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics and in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Trevor Marsicano is an American speed skater and silver medalist in the Winter Olympics.
Belgium sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12–28 February 2010. The nation has been to every Winter Olympics except two, both in the 1960s. The Belgian delegation to Vancouver consisted of eight athletes, competing in four different sports. The delegation did not win any medals, and their best performance in any event was ninth by Pieter Gysel in the short track speed skating 1,500 meters event.
Kim Dong-Sung is a South Korean former short track speed skater. He won a gold medal in 1000m race and silver medal in 5000m relay at the 1998 Winter Olympics. He has been a two-time Overall World Champion in 1997 and in 2002 and two-time Overall World Cup Champion.
For the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a total of five sports venues were used. The main stadium hosted the figure skating, ice hockey, and speed skating events. Skeleton was first held at the Cresta Run. Bobsleigh was held at the bob run. St. Moritz itself served as cross-country skiing venue and the cross-country part of the Nordic combined event. Weather gave two events run at these games problems, creating the largest margin of victory in Olympic history for one and the cancellation of the other.
Shim Suk-hee is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion and a World Champion (2014).
Han Tianyu is a Chinese short-track speed-skater. He won the silver medal in men's 1500 metres short track speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics, behind the Canadian skater Charles Hamelin, who won the gold medal.
