Claudia Pechstein is a German speed skater. She has won five Olympic gold medals. With a total of nine Olympic medals, five gold, two silver, and two bronze, she was previously the most successful Olympic speed skater, male or female, of all time,. Pechstein is the most successful German Winter Olympian of all time. After the World Championships in Norway in February 2009, Pechstein was accused of blood doping and banned from all competitions for two years.
Irene Karlijn "Ireen" Wüst is a Dutch former long track speed skater. 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 the second athlete to win a gold medal at five consecutive Olympics, Summer or Winter, and the first to do so in individual 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.
The 2007 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in the indoor arena Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands on 9–11 February 2007. The Championships were three-day allround events, with the skaters completing four distances before the final championship standings are determined based on the samalog system. The organising body, the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Schaatsenrijders Bond (KNSB), celebrated its 125-year anniversary with full stands on all three days.
The 2009 World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held at the indoor ice rink of the Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar (Norway) on 7 and 8 February 2009.
The Czech Republic participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, sending 92 participants, the largest Czech team ever to appear at the Winter Olympics. The Czechs competed in the majority of events, except curling, skeleton and women's ice hockey. Hockey player Jaromír Jágr served as flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
This article contains a chronological summary of major events from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
The women's 3000 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 9 February 2014 at 15:30 MSK. The competition was won by Ireen Wüst from the Netherlands, who previously won the same distance at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Martina Sáblíková from the Czech Republic, the defending champion, finished second, while Olga Graf won the bronze medal.
Olga Borisovna Graf is a Russian speed skater. Graf competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where she won bronze medals both in the 3000 metres event and in the team pursuit.
Carlijn Achtereekte is a Dutch former speed skater and current road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. Achtereekte won three silver medals in the 5000 metres at the Dutch Single Distance Championships. At the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, she won the silver medal at the 5000 metres event behind Martina Sáblíková. Currently Achtereekte is a professional cyclist, competing for Team Jumbo–Visma.
The Netherlands competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, between 9 and 25 February 2018. Speed skater Jan Smeekens was appointed as flag bearer for the opening ceremony, which was attended by King Willem Alexander, Queen Máxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who also observed the sporting events that featured Dutch competitors.
The women's 500 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 18 February 2018 at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung.
The women's 1000 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung on 14 February 2018.
The men's 1500 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February 2018 at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung. Kjeld Nuis posted a time 0.06 seconds short of the Olympic record and won the gold medal. Patrick Roest won silver, and Kim Min-seok bronze, becoming the first Asian athlete to ever medal in this event. For all three of them, it was their first Olympic race and first Olympic medal. The defending champion Zbigniew Bródka, as well as the 2014 silver, Koen Verweij, and bronze, Denny Morrison, medalists participated in the event but finished outside of the top 10.
The women's 1500 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung on 12 February 2018.
The women's 5000 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung on 16 February 2018. The event was won by Esmee Visser, skating her first Olympic race. The defending champion Martina Sáblíková finished second. Natalya Voronina was third, also earning her first Olympic medal.
The men's 5000 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung on 11 February 2018.
The women's 3000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 5 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. The event was won by Irene Schouten representing the Netherlands for whom it was the first Olympic gold medal. Schouten also set the new Olympic record. Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy was second, and Isabelle Weidemann of Canada third. For both of them, it was the first Olympic medal. In addition, Lollobrigida's medal was the first ever Italian Olympic medal in women's speed skating.
The women's 5000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 10 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, who already became the champion on 3000 m a few days earlier, won the event. Isabelle Weidemann of Canada won the silver medal, and Martina Sáblíková of the Czech Republic, the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion at this distance, bronze.
