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.
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.
Shani Earl Davis is an American former speed skater.
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.
Charles Hamelin is a Canadian retired short track speed skater. In a competitive career that spanned nearly twenty years on the international circuit, Hamelin participated in five Winter Olympic Games and won six Olympic medals, including a national-best four gold medals. Competing in all distances, he won thirty-eight medals at the World Championships, including fourteen gold medals, and also led Canada to five world relay titles. Hamelin was also the 2014 Overall World Cup season winner and the 2018 Overall World Champion, giving him all the achievements available in the sport.
The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships are a senior international short track speed skating competition held once a year to determine the World Champion in individual distances, relays and Overall Classification. It is sanctioned by the International Skating Union and is usually held in March or April.
John Robert "J. R." Celski is a retired American short track speed skater, three-time Olympian, and three-time medalist in the Winter Olympics. Celski has held a total of five combined Short Track World and Junior World Records throughout his career including the 500m and 5000m relay World Records as well as the 500m, 1000m and 3000m relay Junior World Records. Celski was a part of the team that broke and currently holds the World Record in the 5000m relay established in Shanghai, China on November 12, 2017.
Lee Seung-hoon is a South Korean speed skater. He won a gold medal in the 10,000 metres, a silver medal in the 5000 meters at the 2010 Winter Olympics, becoming the first and only Asian man ever to achieve these feats, a gold medal in mass-start at the 2018 Winter Olympics, a gold medal in the mass start at the 2016 World Championships in Kolomna, and a bronze medal in mass-start at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He was a short track speed skater, winning the 2008 World Championship 3000 m super-final and three gold medals at the 2009 Winter Universiade. Lee converted to long track in September 2009, as he failed to earn his spot on the South Korea national short track team in the national trials.
Mo Tae-bum is a South Korean speed skater. He is the 2010 Olympic Champion and the 2012 and 2013 World Champion in 500 m. He started speedskating while in the third grade. Prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Mo won two distances at the 2006 World Junior Speed Skating Championships. He has competed on the national level since 2004 and has competed internationally since 2005.
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.
The 1995 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were held from 17 to 19 March 1995 at the Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall in Gjøvik, Norway. They were the twentieth World Short Track Speed Skating Championships and the first to be held in Norway. It consisted of ten events, five for men and five for women, including one relay each. The overall winner of the men's races was South Korea's Chae Ji-hoon, who won three of the men's four individual events, with the last gold going to Canada's Marc Gagnon. In the women's events, South Korea's Chun Lee-kyung won ahead of China's Wang Chunlu, with both winning two individual races. The men's relay was won by Canada, while the women's relay was won by China. The overall medal table was topped by South Korea with five first places and twelve medals overall.
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.
Zsófia Kónya is a Hungarian short track speed skater, member of the national team. She was 3rd place on the European Championships in 2014 and 3rd placed in the Winter Universiade in 2013. She qualified and was expected to compete in Sochi at the Winter Olympic Games in 2014, representing Hungary.
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.
Patrick Roest is a Dutch professional long track speed skater who has won the World Allround Speed Skating Championships three times. He leads the adelskalender, an all-time ranking of skaters' personal bests. He is a member of the commercial team of Team Reggeborgh.
Lin Xiaojun, born Lim Hyo-jun, is a South Korean-born Chinese short track speed skater. He is the 2018 champion of the Men's 1500 m event in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics, and also set the new Olympic record for the event. Originally starting as a swimmer, Lim took up skating at a young age. Despite multiple injuries early on in his career, he notably won gold at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics upon his international debut in the Boys' 1000 m event. He would later win the 1000 m and 1500 m events in the Budapest leg of the 2017–18 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup and earn selection for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Upon his Olympic debut, Lim won the gold medal, setting a new Olympic record of 2:10.485 in the process, beating Lee Jung-su's previous record set at the 2010 games.
Steven Dubois is a Canadian short-track speed skater.
Corinne Stoddard is an American short track speed skater. She represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Jordan Stolz is an American professional speed skater. At the 2023 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, Stolz won the 500m to become the youngest single distance world champion in history. He also became the first male skater to win three individual gold medals at a single World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, a feat he repeated in 2024.
