Speed skating

Speed skating is a winter sport in which athletes race on ice skates over fixed distances. It has two main forms: long track, where skaters race in pairs against the clock on a 400-meter oval, and short track, where several skaters race each other on a much smaller oval. The International Skating Union (ISU) governs both, and both are on the Winter Olympic program.

History of speed skating

Skating developed more than a thousand years ago in northern Europe, especially in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, and iron blades helped it spread. A race from Wisbech to Whittlesey in England in 1763, run for a prize of 20 guineas, is the first known speed skating race.

The ISU was founded in 1892 in the Netherlands. Its early work standardized the 400-meter track and four championship distances: 500, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

Men’s speed skating was part of the first Winter Games, held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, and Charles Jewtraw of the United States won the first gold medal. Women’s Olympic races began in 1960, the same year that artificial ice arrived in Olympic long track competition. The last Olympic races on natural ice took place at Lake Misurina in 1956.

Short track grew out of mass-start races on shorter ovals in Canada and the United States around 1905 and 1906. The ISU declared it an official sport in 1967, and international competitions began in 1976. It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Calgary Games and became a full medal sport at Albertville in 1992.

Rules and how speed skating is played

In long track racing, two skaters race at a time, each in a separate lane. They swap lanes on the back straight of every lap so that both skate the same distance. If the pair leave a corner together, the skater coming from the inner lane must let the other pass. Armbands show the lanes: white for the inner lane and red for the outer lane.

The 500 meters is skated twice, once from each lane, because the inner lane gives a small average advantage. At the 2014 Winter Games the long track program had six events for each sex. Men raced 500, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters, and women raced 500, 1,000, 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Each sex also had a team pursuit.

In the team pursuit, two teams of three skaters race at the same time, using only the inner lane. Men skate eight laps and women skate six, and the team time is set when the third skater crosses the line. The event joined the Olympic program in 2006.

Short track works differently. Skaters race against opponents rather than the clock, with two to six on the ice at once. A skater can be disqualified for a false start, for impeding another skater or for cutting inside the track. The longest individual race is 1,500 meters, and the relays are 3,000 meters for women and 5,000 meters for men. The program had two individual events and two relays at Albertville in 1992 and has had eight events since the 2006 Turin Games.

The distances place very different demands on the energy systems of the body. A 500-meter sprint lasts well under a minute for elite skaters, while the men’s 10,000 meters takes more than twelve minutes.

Equipment and venues

The most important change in equipment was the clap skate. The blade is hinged at the front of the boot and detaches at the heel, which allows a longer push and more time with the blade on the ice. The Dutch company Viking introduced it around 1996, and by the 1998 Winter Olympics nearly all long track skaters used it.

Skating suits must follow the natural shape of the body. Teams spend heavily on fabrics, cuts and seams to reduce air drag, and some skaters attach aerodynamic strips no thicker than 3 millimeters to create turbulent airflow. Streamlined technique and equipment are closely tied to the biomechanics of movement.

The standard long track oval is 400 meters around. Ovals of 200, 250 and 333 1/3 meters are used occasionally. Short track is usually held on an ice hockey rink, with a 111.12-meter oval marked out on the ice. Because skaters race close together and falls are common, the walls around short track ovals are padded.

Governing bodies and major competitions

The ISU is the highest governing body for speed skating. Like most international federations, it writes the technical rules and sanctions championships, a pattern described more broadly under sports governance.

The Olympic Winter Games are the most visible competition. The ISU also runs world championships, including all-round championships in which skaters race four distances, single-distance championships and sprint championships over 500 and 1,000 meters on two days. World short track competitions began in 1976.

Records and notable moments

The Dutch skater Jaap Eden cut the men’s 5,000-meter world record by half a minute at the 1894 European Championships in Hamar. His record stood for 17 years, and it took more than 50 years to lower it by another half minute.

Speeds have kept rising. From 1971 to 2009, the average speed in the men’s 1,500 meters rose from 45 to 52 kilometers per hour. The 2002 Salt Lake City Games broke most earlier Olympic records, partly because of the high altitude of the venue.

At the 1932 Lake Placid Games, the Olympic races used a pack-style format, with skaters racing together, and the United States won all four gold medals. At Turin in 2006, South Korea won six short track gold medals. At Sochi in 2014, the Netherlands won eight of the 12 long track gold medals and 23 medals in all.

Global reach of speed skating

Speed skating has deep roots in the Netherlands, where the Nederlandse Schaatsrijderbond was founded in 1882 and the Elfstedentocht was first organized as a competition in 1909. The Sochi 2014 long track events drew 177 athletes from 23 national Olympic committees.

Medals at those Games went beyond the Dutch. Poland won its first men’s 1,500-meter title, China won the women’s 1,000 meters, and skaters from South Korea, the Czech Republic, Russia and Canada also reached the podium. The 2006 short track results, when South Korea won ten medals in total, show the strength of the sport in East Asia.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue