Speed skating, or long track speedskating, long track speed skating, is an Olympic sport where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. Sports such as short track speedskating. Inline speedskating, and quad speed skating have also been called speed skating. Long track speed skating enjoys large popularity in the Netherlands, and has also had champion athletes from Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the United States. Speed skaters attain maximum speeds of 60 km/h during the shorter distances. Short track speed skating (also Shorttrack speedskating) is a form of competitive ice speed skating. ... Inline skaters competing. ... Kilometre per hour (American spelling: kilometer per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ...

The rink

Skaters race on a two-lane oval similar in dimension to an outdoor athletics track. Indeed, an athletics track covered with ice can function as a speed skating track, such as Bislett stadion in Oslo up to the 1980s. According to the rules of the International Skating Union, a standard track should be either 400 m or 333⅓ m long; 400 m is the standard used for all major competitions. Tracks of other, non-standard lengths, such 200 or 250 m, are also in use in some places for training and/or smaller local competitions. On standard tracks, the curves have a radius of 25–26 m in the inner lane, and each lane is 3–4 m wide. A womens 400m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ... Bislett stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway, founded in 1907. ... County Oslo NO-03 District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ...

Top international rinks

These rinks have hosted international events (World Cups or international senior championships) between 2004 and 2007.

Indoor

The long track Olympic Oval in Calgary. 2 hockey rinks fit inside the long track rink.

• Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann Halle, Erfurt, Germany
• Heilongjiang Indoor Rink, Harbin, China
• Krylatskoe, Moscow, Russia
• M-Wave, Nagano, Japan
• Oval Lingotto, Torino, Italy
• Olympic Oval, Calgary, Canada
• Pettit National Ice Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
• Sportforum Hohenschönhausen, Berlin, Germany
• Taereung Indoor Ice Rink, Seoul, South Korea
• Thialf, Heerenveen, Netherlands
• Vikingskipet, Hamar, Norway
• Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Image File history File links Olympic_Oval_Inside_Calgary. ... Image File history File links Olympic_Oval_Inside_Calgary. ... Mariendom and the Severikirche. ... Harbin on a map of China For other meanings of Harbin, see Harbin (disambiguation). ... Krylatskoe (Крылатское) is the northern terminus of the Moscow Metros Filyovskaya Line. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... M-Wave is an indoor sporting arena located in Nagano, Japan. ... Categories: Host cities of the Winter Olympic Games | Cities in Nagano Prefecture | Japan geography stubs ... Oval Lingotto Torino Oval Lingotto is an indoor arena in Turin, Italy. ... Torino or Turin is a major industrial city in north-western Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. ... The Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a covered speed skating oval built for the 1988 Winter Olympics. ... Calgary is the largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. ... The Pettit National Ice Center is an indoor ice skating facility located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring two international-size ice rinks and a 400-meter speed skating oval. ... Nickname: Cream City, Brew City, Mil Town, The City of Festivals Location of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Coordinates: County Milwaukee Government  - Mayor Tom Barrett Area  - City  97 sq mi (251. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Seoul   is the capital of South Korea and is located on the Han River in the countrys northwest. ... Thialf is an arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands. ... Heerenveen (Frisian: It Hearrenfean) is a municipality and a town in the province of Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. ... Photo by Helge Øyvind Hoel. ... County Hedmark District Hedemarken Municipality NO-0403 Administrative centre Hamar Mayor (2004) Einar Busterud (By- og bygdelista - The City and Rural areas Party) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 257 351 km² 338 km² 0. ... Utah Olympic Oval The Utah Olympic Oval is located southwest of Salt Lake City in the township of Kearns. ... Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. ...

Outdoor

• Chuncheon National Ice Sports Centre, Chuncheon, South Korea
• Circolo Pattinatori Pinè, Baselga di Pinè, Italy
• Ludwig Schwabl Stadion, Inzell, Germany
• Machiyama Highland Skating Center, Ikaho, Japan
• Ritten Kunsteisbahn, Collalbo, Italy

Chuncheon (Chuncheon-si) is the capital of Gangwon Province, South Korea. ... Baselga di Pinè is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Trento in the Italian region Trentino-South Tyrol, located about 12 km northeast of Trento. ... Inzell is a town in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. ... Ikaho (伊香保町; -machi) is a town located in Kitagunma District, Gunma, Japan. ...

History

ISU development

Jaap Eden, the first official world champion.

Organised races on ice skates first developed in the 19th century. Norwegian clubs hosted competitions from 1863, with races in the town of Christiania drawing five-digit crowds.^[1] In 1884, the Norwegian Axel Paulsen was named Amateur Champion Skater of the World after winning competitions in the United States. Five years later, a sports club in Amsterdam invited to an ice skating event they called a world championship, with participants from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom as well as the host country. The Internationale Eislauf Vereinigung, now known as the International Skating Union, was founded at a meeting of 15 national representatives in Scheveningen in 1892, the first international winter sports federation. The Nederlandse Schaatsrijderbond had been founded in 1882,^[2] and had organised the world championships of 1890 and 1891.^[3] Jaap Eden skating. ... Jaap Eden skating. ... Depending on context, Christiania can refer to: Christiania, capital of Norway – what Oslo was called from 1624 to 1877, named after King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway; subsequently, the city was called Kristiania (q. ... Axel Paulsen (1855-1938) was a Norwegian figure skater. ... The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ... Scheveningen pier Scheveningen is part of Den Haag, the Netherlands. ...

Competitions were held around tracks of varying lengths – the 1885 match between Axel Paulsen and Remke van der Zee was skated on a track of 6/7 miles (1400 metres) – but the 400 metre track was standardised by ISU in 1892, along with the standard distances for world championships, 500 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10,000 m. Skaters were to start in pairs, each to their own lane, and changing lanes for every lap to ensure that each skater completed the same distance. Competitions were exclusively for amateur skaters, and these rules were applied: Peter Sinnerud was disqualified for professionalism in 1904, and lost his world title. Axel Paulsen (1855-1938) was a Norwegian figure skater. ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. ...

World records were registered since 1891, and improved rapidly: Jaap Eden lowered the world 5000 metre record by half a minute during the Hamar European Championships in 1894. The record stood for 17 years, and it took 50 years to lower it by further half a minute.^[4] Jaap Eden first became famous as a speed skater, winning the World Championships in 1893, 1895 and 1896. ...

Elfstedentocht and Dutch history

The Elfstedentocht was organised as a competition in 1909, and has been held at irregular intervals whenever the ice on the course is deemed good enough. Other outdoor races developed later, with Noord-Holland hosting a race in 1917, but the Dutch natural ice conditions have rarely been conducive to skating. the Elfstedentocht has been held 15 times in the nearly 100 years since 1909, and before artificial ice was available in 1962, national championships had been held in 25 of the years between 1887, when the first championship was held in Slikkerveer, and 1961. Since artificial ice became common in the Netherlands, Dutch speed skaters have been among the world top in long track speed skating and marathon skating. The Elfstedentocht, or Eleven-cities Tour is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. ... Slikkerveer is a village in the municipality of Ridderkerk, South Holland, The Netherlands. ...

Another solution to still be able to skate marathons on natural ice became the Alternative Elfstedentocht. The Alternative Elfstedentocht races take part in other countries like Austria, Finland or Canada and all top marathon skaters as well as thousands of recreative skaters travel from outside the Netherlands to the location where the race is held. According to the NRC Handelsblad journalist Jaap Bloembergen, the country "takes a carnival look" during international skating championships, despite the fact that "people outside the country are not particularly interested."^[5] NRC Handelsblad is a Dutch evening newspaper. ...

Olympic Games

At the 1914 Olympic Congress, the delegates agreed to include long track speed skating in the 1916 Olympics, after figure skating had featured in the 1908 Olympics. However, World War I put an end to the plans of Olympic competition, and it wasn't until the winter sports week in Chamonix in 1924 – retrospectively awarded Olympic status – that ice speed skating reached the Olympic programme. Charles Jewtraw from Lake Placid, New York won the first Olympic gold medal, though several Norwegians in attendance claimed Oskar Olsen had clocked a better time.^[6] Timing issues on the 500 m were a problem within the sport until electronic clocks arrived in the 1960s; during the 1936 Olympic 500 metre race, it was suggested that Ivar Ballangrud's 500 metre time was almost a second too good.^[7] Finland won the remaining four gold medals at the 1924 Games, with Clas Thunberg winning 1,500 metres, 5,000 metres, and allround. It was the first and only time an allround Olympic gold medal has been awarded in speed skating. The Games of the VI Olympiad were to have been held in 1916 in Berlin, Germany. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Panorama of Chamonix valley Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a town and commune in eastern France, in the Haute-Savoie département, at the foot of Mont Blanc. ... Charles Jewtraw was an American athlete, and he became the first gold medalist of the 1924 Winter Olympics by winning the 500m speed skating competition in the French town of Chamonix. ... Lake Placid is a village of 2,638 in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, near the center of the Town of North Elba and named after an adjacent lake. ... Arnold Clas Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893, Helsinki – 28 April 1973, Helsinki) was a male Finnish ice speed skater. ...

Norwegian and Finnish skaters won all the gold medals in World Championships between the world wars, with Latvians and Austrians visiting the podium in the European Championships. At the time, North American races were usually conducted packstyle, similar to the marathon races in the Netherlands, but the Olympic races were to be held over the four ISU-approved distances. The ISU approved the suggestion that the 1932 Olympic speed skating competitions should be held as packstyle races, and Americans won all four gold medals. Canada won five medals, all silver and bronze, while defending World Champion Clas Thunberg stayed at home, protesting against this form of racing.^[8] At the World Championships held immediately after the Games, without the American champions, Norwegian racers won all four distances and occupied the three top spots in the allround standings. At the 1932 Winter Olympics, four speed skating events were contested. ... Arnold Clas Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893, Helsinki – 28 April 1973, Helsinki) was a male Finnish ice speed skater. ...

Norwegians, Swedes, Finns and Japanese skating leaders protested to the USOC, condemning the manner of competition, and expressing the wish that mass start races were never to be held again at the Olympics. However, ISU adopted the short track speed skating branch, with mass start races on shorter tracks, in 1967, arranged international competitions from 1976, and brought them back to the Olympics in 1992. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is a non-profit organization that is the National Olympic Committee for the United States. ...

Women's competitions

In the 1930s, women began to be accepted in ISU speed skating competitions. Although women's races had been held in North America for some time, and competed at the 1932 Winter Olympics in a demonstration event, the ISU did not organise official competitions until 1936. However, Zofia Nehringowa set the first official world record in 1929. Women's speed skating was not very high profile; in Skøytesportens stjerner (Stars of the skating sport), a Norwegian work from 1971, no female skaters are mentioned on the book's nearly 200 pages, though they had by then competed for nearly 30 years. The women's long track speed skating was since dominated by East Germany and later reunified Germany, who have won 15 of 35 Olympic gold medals in women's long track since 1984. GDR redirects here. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) German reunification (German: ) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English commonly called East Germany) were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, in English...

Technical developments

A skater in full body-covering suit.

Artificial ice entered the long track competitions with the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the competitions in 1956 on Lake Misurina were the last Olympic competitions on natural ice. 1960 also saw the first Winter Olympic competitions for women. Lidia Skoblikova won two gold medals in 1960, and four in 1964. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (384x688, 97 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Speed skating Ren Hui Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (384x688, 97 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Speed skating Ren Hui Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... The VIII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1960 in Squaw Valley, USA. Alexander Cushing, the creator of the resort, campaigned vigorously to win the Games. ... Lago di Misurina Lake Misurina ---- (more info) Stage 2 : In Progress (How-to) Please correct it. ... Lidia Skoblikova was born in Zlatoust Soviet Union, March 8, 1939, some 60 km west of Chelyabinsk, Siberia. ...

The clap skate, a new type of skate which came into wide use in the 1990s.

More aerodynamic skating suits were also developed, with Swiss skater Franz Krienbühl (who finished 8th on the Olympic 10,000 m at the age of 46) at the front of development.^[9] After a while, national teams took over development of "body suits". Suits and indoor skating, as well as the clap skate, has helped to lower long track world records considerably; from 1971 to 2007, the average speed on the men's 1500 metres has been raised from 45 to 52 km/h. Similar speed increases are shown in the other distances. Image File history File links Clap_skate. ... Image File history File links Clap_skate. ... Franz Krienbühl (born March 24, 1929, died April 16, 2002) was a Swiss speed skater, and is known mostly because of his inventions that changed the sport. ... Clap skates (also called clapskates, slap skates, slapskates, from Dutch klapschaats) are a type of skates used in speed skating. ... Kilometre per hour (American spelling: kilometer per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ...

Professionalism

After the 1972 season, European long track skaters founded a professional league, International Speedskating League, which included Ard Schenk, three-time Olympic gold medallist in 1972, as well as five Norwegians, four other Dutchmen, three Swedes, and a few other skaters. Jonny Nilsson, 1963 world champion and Olympic gold medallist, was the driving force behind the league, which folded in 1974 for economic reasons, and ISU also excluded tracks hosting professional races from future international championships. ^[10] The ISU later organised its own World Cup circuit with monetary prizes, and full time professional teams developed in the Netherlands during the 1990s, which led them to a dominance on the men's side only challenged by Japanese 500 m racers and a couple of American allrounders. Adrianus Ard Schenk (born September 16, 1944) is a former Dutch speedskater. ... Erling Martin Jonny Nilsson (born 9 February 1943) is a former speed skater from Sweden. ...

Racing

All races are held in pairs, for which two lanes on the track are used. Skaters wear bands around their upper arm to identify which lane they started in. The colours are white for inner lane and red for outer lane. At the back straight, the skaters switch lanes, which causes them both to cover the same distance per lap. When both skaters emerge from the corner at the exact same time, the person currently in the inner lane will have to let the outer lane pass in front of him.

Occasionally, quartet starts are used, for the pragmatic and practical reason of allowing more skaters to complete their races inside a given amount of time. This involves having two pairs of skaters in the lanes at the same time, but with the second pair starting when the first have completed approximately half of the first lap. The skaters in the second pair will then wear yellow and blue arm bands instead of the usual white and red.

When skating the Team pursuit, the two teams of three team members start at opposite sides of the oval. In marathon races there is usually a mass-start. The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. ...

Equipment

There are primarily two types of skates, traditional ice skates and the clap skates. In long track speedskating, only clap skates are used in competition above recreational level. The clap skates were introduced around 1996, and were a revolution in that they are hinged to the front of the boot and detach from the heel, allowing the skater a more natural range of movement. This enables a longer stroke while keeping maximum contact with the ice. By the 1998 Winter Olympics, nearly all skaters used clap skates. Modern skates Ice skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used to propel ones self across ice surfaces. ... Clap skates (also called clapskates, slap skates, slapskates, from Dutch klapschaats) are a type of skates used in speed skating. ... The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. ...

Both use long and straight blades compared to many other ice skating sports. Blades are about 1 mm thick and typically come in lengths from 13 to 18 inches (33–45 cm). Most competitive athletes use lengths between 15 and 17 inches, depending on body size and personal preference. Outdoor ice skating in Austria Ice skating is travelling on ice with skates, narrow (and sometimes parabolic) blade-like devices moulded into special boots (or, more primitively, without boots, tied to regular footwear). ...

A lot of attention is given to air resistance. The rules demand that the suits follow the natural shape of the body, preventing the use of e.g. drop shaped helmets (as seen in cycling) or more inventive "Donald Duck" constumes. However, a lot of time and money is spent developing fabrics, cuts and seams that will reduce drag. Some skaters use low (no thicker than 3 mm) "aerodynamic strips" attached to their suits. These are intended to create turbulent flow in certain areas around the body. An object falling through a gas or liquid experiences a force in direction opposite to its motion. ... Turbulent flow around an obstacle; the flow further away is laminar Laminar and turbulent water flow over the hull of a submarine Turbulence creating a vortex on an airplane wing In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by low-momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and...

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 World Cup. Usual distance include the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m (women only), 5000 m and 10000 m (men only), but several other distances are sometimes skated such as 100 m and 1 mile.

The 500 m is usually skated with two runs, so that every skater has one race starting on the outer lane and one on the inner. This practice started at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. The reason is that there is a significant advantage of starting on the inner lane.

Allround

One of the oldest skating formats is the allround event. Skaters skate four distances and a ranking is made up based on the times skated on all of these distances. The method of scoring is the same for all combinations. All times are calculated back to 500 m times, so skating the 500 m in 40 seconds gives 40 points, while 1500 m (3×500 m) in 2 minutes (120 seconds, equivalent to 3×40 s) also gives 40 points. Points are calculated to 3 decimal places, and truncation is applied, the numbers are not rounded. The skater who has the fewest points wins the competition. This system is called samalog. An allround champion may often not have won a single distance – such as Viktor Kosichkin in the 1962 World Championship - or he may win three distances but lose the overall title. Originally, three distance victories won you the championship, but the rules were changed after Rolf Falk-Larssen beat Tomas Gustafsson at the 1983 World Championship despite having more points than Gustafsson. In mathematics, truncation is the term used for reducing the number of digits right of the decimal point, by discarding the least significant ones. ... Samalog, sometimes called sammenlagt, is a scoring system in speed skating. ... Viktor Ivanovich Kosichkin (Russian: ) (born 25 February 1938 in Moshky, Russia) is a former speed skater who competed for the Soviet Union. ... Rolf Falk-Larssen (born 21 February 1960) was a Norwegian speedskater who won at the age of 22 the World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Oslo. ... Tomas Gustafsson (born May 7, 1973 in Stockholm) is a Swedish footballer. ...

Sprint championships

The sprint championships are two-day events where skaters run the 500-m and 1000-m on both days. The samalog system is again applied to crown the winner. To counter any systematic bias regarding inner versus outer lanes, skaters change start lanes from the first day to the second. Nations with active skaters arrange annual national sprint championships, and the ISU arranges annual World Sprint Speedskating Championships, for men and for ladies, since 1970. While there are annual European (Allround) Speedskating Championships, no such championships are arranged for the sprinters. The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ... The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. ... The European Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best all-round speed skater of Europe. ...

Single distances

A more basic form of speedskating consists of skating a single event. This is the format used for the World Single Distance Championships, which have been arranged since 1996, and the World Cup. The usual distances are the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m (ladies only), 5000 m and 10000 m (men only), but some other distances are sometimes skated as well, such as 100 m and 1 mile. Women occasionally but rarely are given the possibility to skate the 10,000 m, but outside the top-level championships. Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple distances. ... The Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised yearly by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985/1986. ...

The 500-m is usually skated with two runs, so that every skater has one race starting in the outer lane and one in the inner. This practice started with the first of the World Single Distance Championships in 1996, and with the 1998 Nagano Olympics; at all earlier Olympics 1924–1994, the 500-m was skated only once. The reason for skating this distance twice is that there is a small but statistically significant average advantage of starting in the inner lane; negotiating the last curve at high speed is typically more difficult in the inner lane than in the outer lane. Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple distances. ...

In addition to international championships, the International Skating Union has organised the Speedskating World Cup since the 1985–86 season. The World Cup works by ranking skaters by cumulative score during the season, for each distance separately, at specially designated World Cup meets. More specifically, there is for each season a World Cup competition for the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, and combined 5,000 m and 10,000 m, for men; and for the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, and combined 3,000 m and 5,000 m, for the ladies. There have been suggestions of making a grand total World Cup ranking by suitable aggregation of scores across distances, but such a ranking system has not yet been organised. Speed skating is thus the only individual sport with a season-long World Cup not to crown one World Cup winner at the end of each season. The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ... The Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised yearly by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985/1986. ...

Team Pursuit

The team pursuit is the only team event in top-level long track speed skating and is skated by teams of three skaters. Two teams race at a time, starting at a line in the middle of the straightaway. One team starts on each side of the track. Only the inner lane is used, and the distance is eight laps for men and six for women. Image File history File links Xin_400203161423772320238. ... Image File history File links Xin_400203161423772320238. ...

There are several formats for the team pursuit. The Olympic format is unusual in that it is a cup format, with several rounds of exclusion between two teams. In the World Cup and World Championships, one race is skated and the teams are ranked by their finishing time. In the Olympic format, a team that overtakes the other has automatically won the race and the remaining distance isn't skated. In practice, the distance is so short that this rarely happens unless one team has a fall.

The team pursuit is a new event in major international competitions. Similar events have been skated for years on a smaller scale, but was not considered an "official" ISU event until around 2004. It was introduced at the Olympics in 2006.

Marathon

Skaters skate in a large group and they skate large distances. When conducted at an ice rink oval, the distance is usually around 40 km, akin to the traditional marathon in running. When skated outdoor on natural ice, 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. An example of a famous marathon outside the Netherlands is the International Big Rideau Lake Speed Skating Marathon in Portland, Ontario, Canada. Rockefeller Centre ice rink An ice rink is a frozen body of water where people can ice skate or play winter sports. ... Modern-day marathon runners Runners in ancient Greece. ... The Elfstedentocht, or Eleven-cities Tour is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. ... International Big Rideau Lake Speed Skating Marathon. ... Portland is a community in Ontario, Canada, north of Kingston and situated on the Big Rideau Lake. ...

Notable skaters

See List of long track speed skaters. The following is a list of notable ice speed skaters. ...

External links

• IOC - speed skating
• ISU - speed skating
• Outdoor Ovals in the US and Canada
• Skating results from 1887
• German Ice Speed Skating Federation - also has results