Speed skating
ice skating in which the competitors attempt to travel a certain distance over the ice as quickly as possible. Related sports are short track speed skating and inline speed skating.
History
- origins in a.o. Netherlands
- founding of ISU (IEV)
- development of the competitions
Speed skating is a Winter Olympic Games medal sport. The sport was revolutionized in the 1990s with the introduction of clap skates which can reduce lap times by a second.
Rules
Speed skating is currently conducted on ovals with artificial ice. The length of the track for the major competitions is 400 m, but tracks of 333 m or 200 m are also in use. All races are held in pairs, for which two lanes on the track are used. At the back straight, the skaters switch lanes which causes them both to cover the same distance per lap.
Material
Competition Format
Single distances
The most basic form of speed skating consists of skating a single event. This is the format used for the World Single Distance Championships and the truncation is applied, the numbers are not rounded. The skater who has the fewest points wins the competiton.
Marathon
Skaters skate in large group skate large distances. When conducted at a rink, the distances is usually around 40 km, but when skated on frozen outdoor water, the distances can be as long as 200 km. An example of this is the famous Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) which is irregularly held in the Netherlands.
Champions
The International Skating Union has organized
world championships speed skating since 1893.
Speed skaters
