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

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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

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The skaters compete in the following distances:

Men

(List of medal winners)

Women

(List of medal winners)

Notes
500 m 500 m
1,000 m 1,000 m
1,500 m 1,500 m
5,000 m 3,000 m
10,000 m 5,000 m
Team pursuit Team pursuit (since 2005)
Mass start Mass start (since 2015)
Team sprint Team sprint (2019–2020, since 2023)

Summary

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ISU Single Distances Championships
Number Year City Country Events
1 1996 Hamar   Norway 10
2 1997 Warsaw   Poland 10
3 1998 Calgary   Canada 10
4 1999 Heerenveen   Netherlands 10
5 2000 Nagano   Japan 10
6 2001 Salt Lake City   United States 10
7 2003 Berlin   Germany 10
8 2004 Seoul   South Korea 10
9 2005 Inzell   Germany 12
10 2007 Salt Lake City   United States 12
11 2008 Nagano   Japan 12
12 2009 Richmond   Canada 12
13 2011 Inzell   Germany 12
14 2012 Heerenveen   Netherlands 12
15 2013 Sochi   Russia 12
16 2015 Heerenveen   Netherlands 14
17 2016 Kolomna   Russia 14
18 2017 Gangneung   South Korea 14
19 2019 Inzell   Germany 16
20 2020 Salt Lake City   United States 16
21 2021 Heerenveen   Netherlands 14
22 2023 Heerenveen   Netherlands 16
23 2024 Calgary   Canada 16

Medal summary

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The medal table by nations is the total number of the 16 distances (men and women) at all of the 23 championships (1996–2024). The individual tables are about the eight distances by gender.

Nations

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

Updated after the 2024 World Championships.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Netherlands1129875285
2  Germany36332796
3  Canada314041112
4  United States28162771
5  Czech Republic166527
6  Japan14182456
7  Russia13162857
8  Norway10161440
9  South Korea1012729
10  China312621
11  Italy38314
12  Belgium2237
13  Austria2226
14  Sweden2103
15Russian Skating Union13711
16  Kazakhstan1012
17  Poland0156
18  France0123
19  Belarus0112
  New Zealand0112
21  Finland0022
22  Great Britain0011
  Switzerland0011
Totals (23 entries)284287283854

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
1 Sven Kramer   Netherlands 2007 2020 21 3 2 26
2 Shani Davis   United States 2004 2015 8 4 3 15
3 Bob de Jong   Netherlands 1997 2013 7 8 5 20
4 Gianni Romme   Netherlands 1996 2004 7 2 3 12
5 Erben Wennemars   Netherlands 1999 2008 6 2 3 11
6 Jordan Stolz   United States 2023 2024 6 6
7 Jorrit Bergsma   Netherlands 2012 2023 5 8 13
8 Carl Verheijen   Netherlands 2001 2009 5 5 3 13
9 Hiroyasu Shimizu   Japan 1996 2005 5 3 2 10
10 Pavel Kulizhnikov   Russia
Russian Skating Union
2015 2021 5 3 1 9

Women

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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
1 Martina Sáblíková   Czech Republic 2007 2024 16 6 4 26
2 Ireen Wüst   Netherlands 2007 2021 15 15 1 31
3 Anni Friesinger   Germany 1997 2009 12 9 1 22
4 Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann   Germany 1996 2001 11 3 14
5 Irene Schouten   Netherlands 2015 2024 8 2 5 15
6 Christine Nesbitt   Canada 2007 2013 7 2 3 12
7 Claudia Pechstein   Germany 1996 2017 5 13 12 30
8 Ivanie Blondin   Canada 2015 2024 5 7 2 14
9 Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong   Netherlands 2016 2023 5 4 2 11
10 Miho Takagi   Japan 2015 2024 5 3 6 14

References

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  1. ^ "ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships 2016, Kolomna, Russia" (PDF). ISU.org. International Skating Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2016.
  2. ^ "ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships 2017, Gangneung, Korea" (PDF). ISU.org. International Skating Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017.
  3. ^ "ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, 2019 Inzell, Germany". ISU.org. International Skating Union. Retrieved 12 July 2018.