World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships

The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships[1][2][3] are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union.

History

Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple distances – four different distances for the Allround Championships, and two different distances (which have to be skated twice) for Sprint Championships. However, the speed skating events at the Olympic Games were always individual distances, no medals are awarded for a combined event (the only exception being the 1924 Winter Olympics).

Towards the end of the 20th century, skaters started to specialize and it became rare that a skater was able to dominate both the short and the long distances. Perhaps the last skater able to do so was Eric Heiden, who won all five distances at the 1980 Winter Olympics. As a consequence of this specialization, the difference between the Olympic Games and the regular championships, and the popularity of both the Speed skating World Cup and Single Distance Championships held nationally in several countries, the International Skating Union decided to organise the World Single Distance Championships.

Starting in 1996, this originally was an annual event, but in 1998 it became clear that having World Single Distance Championships and the Single Distance Championships as held at the Winter Olympics during the same year was too much, so since 1999, the World Single Distance Championships are no longer held in (Winter) Olympic years.

Distances

Note that the 500 m is raced twice to counteract any benefits from starting in the inner lane. This is because the skaters switch lanes for each 400 m lap, so a skater using the inner lane on the first 100 m would have a much lower speed going into that inner lane – and can thus negotiate it more easily. Therefore, each skater will start once in the inner lane, and once in the outer lane. The winner is the skater with the least combined time.

The skaters compete in the following distances:

Men

For medal winners, see World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships for Men.

Women

For medal winners, see World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships for Women.

Summary

ISU Single Distance Championships
NumberYearCityCountryEvents
11996Hamar Norway10
21997Warsaw Poland10
31998Calgary Canada10
41999Heerenveen Netherlands10
52000Nagano Japan10
62001Salt Lake City United States10
72003Berlin Germany10
82004Seoul South Korea10
92005Inzell Germany12
102007Salt Lake City United States12
112008Nagano Japan12
122009Richmond Canada12
132011Inzell Germany12
142012Heerenveen Netherlands12
152013Sochi Russia12
162015Heerenveen Netherlands14
172016Kolomna Russia14
182017Gangneung South Korea14
192019Inzell Germany16
202020Salt Lake City United States16
212021Heerenveen Netherlands14

Medal summary

The medal table by nations is the total number of the 16 distances (men and women) at all of the 20 championships (1996–2020). The individual tables are about the eight distances by gender.

Nations

All medals, click on the nation to go to the list of medallists.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Netherlands928263237
2 Germany36332796
3 Canada25283790
4 United States20132558
5 Czech Republic165122
6 Russia13162857
7 Japan12172049
8 South Korea1011728
9 Norway813930
10 China39517
11 Austria2125
12 Kazakhstan1012
13 Italy0628
14 Belgium0213
15 Poland0134
16 France0123
17 Belarus0112
New Zealand0112
19 Sweden0101
20 Finland0022
Totals (20 nations)238241237716

Men

Top 10, including team pursuit and team sprint. Boldface denotes active skaters and highest medal count among all skaters (including those who are not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Skater Country From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1Sven Kramer Netherlands20072020213226
2Shani Davis United States2004201584315
3Bob de Jong Netherlands1997201378520
4Gianni Romme Netherlands1996200472312
5Erben Wennemars Netherlands1999200862311
6Jorrit Bergsma Netherlands201220205611
7Carl Verheijen Netherlands2001200955313
8Hiroyasu Shimizu Japan1996200553210
9Pavel Kulizhnikov Russia201520205117
10Douwe de Vries Netherlands20152020516

Women

Top 10, including team pursuit and team sprint. Boldface denotes active skaters and highest medal count among all skaters (including those who are not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Skater Country From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1Martina Sáblíková Czech Republic2007202016521
2Ireen Wüst Netherlands200720201415130
3Anni Friesinger Germany19972009129122
4Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann Germany1996200111314
5Christine Nesbitt Canada2007201372312
6Claudia Pechstein Germany199620175131230
7Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt Germany19992003426
8Jenny Wolf Germany2007201144
9Cindy Klassen Canada2001201234411
10Kristina Groves Canada2005200933713

References

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