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.
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was already an Olympic candidate, unsuccessfully bidding to host the 1960 Games. Innsbruck won the 1964 Games bid, defeating the cities of Calgary in Canada and Lahti in Finland. The sports venues, many of which were built for the Games, were located within a radius of 20 km (12 mi) around Innsbruck. The Games included 1,091 athletes from 36 nations, which was a record for the Winter Games at the time. Athletes participated in six sports and ten disciplines which bring together a total of thirty-four official events, seven more than the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. The luge made its debut on the Olympic program. Three Asian nations made their Winter Games debut: North Korea, India and Mongolia.
The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event held in Innsbruck, Austria, from 4 to 15 February 1976. A total of 1,123 athletes representing 37 National Olympic Committees (NOC) participated in 37 events from 10 different sports and disciplines. Two events were contested for the first time: the figure skating discipline of ice dancing, and the men's 1,000 metres in speed skating.
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.
Speed skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics, was held from 30 January to 7 February. Eight events were contested at the Eisschnelllaufbahn Innsbruck.
Speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics, was held from 9 February to 18 February. Nine events were contested at James B. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink.
Speed skating at the 1984 Winter Olympics was held from 9 to 18 February. Nine events were contested at Zetra Ice Rink.
Speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at Makomanai Open Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. This was the first Olympics at which electronic times were recorded to the hundredth of a second.
Speed skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at L'Anneau de Vitesse in Grenoble, France.
Speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics was held from 14 to 28 February. Ten events were contested at Olympic Oval. For the first time, the women contested a 5000-metre race, the longest distance contested by women in speed skating.
Canada has competed at every Winter Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal each time. By total medals, the country's best performance was in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games where Canadian athletes won 29 medals. Canada set a new record for most gold medals won by a country in a single Winter Olympics with 14 at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 13 gold medals held by the Soviet Union (1976) and Norway (2002). Both Germany and Norway matched the record total of 14 gold medals in Pyeongchang in 2018. This record has since been surpassed by Norway with 16 at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Tatyana Borisovna Averina was a Soviet Russian speed skater. After getting married, her name also appeared as Tatyana Barabash.
The International Skating Union has organised the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Women since 1936. Unofficial championships were held in the years 1933–1935.
Andrea Ehrig is a retired East German speed skater. She was one of the world's best long-distance skaters in the 1980s. A four-time Olympian, she won seven Olympic medals, including gold in the 3000 metres at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Nao Kodaira is a Japanese former long track speed skater who specialised in the sprint distances.
Denis Igoryevich Yuskov is a former Russian speed skater. He is a three-time gold medalist in men's 1500 meters at the World Single Distance Championships and the World Cup-2016 holder at the distance 1500 m.
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 women's 1000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February, at the Beijing National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Miho Takagi of Japan won the event, becoming the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist in this event, and second Asian gold medalist after Zhang Hong in 2014. It was also her first Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands won the silver medal, her first Olympic medal. Brittany Bowe of the United States was third, her first individual Olympic medal.
The men's 1000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics will be held on 18 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Thomas Krol of the Netherlands won the event, it was his first Olympic gold medal. Laurent Dubreuil of Canada won the silver medal, his first Olympic medal. Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway won bronze.
