ISU

With the 2021 ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships getting underway on March 5 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, let’s take a look at the highlights of the last four editions…

The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships begin Friday, March 5, 2021 in Dordrecth, The Netherlands. Don’t miss any of the action as the Skaters get back on the ice for this season’s thrilling races, which will be streamed live to all fans on the ISU Skating YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to the channel to receive live stream notifications.

Nathan Chen has been there and done it. In 2016, the Salt Lake City resident was the first skater to land four quadruple jumps in one Free Skating Program. A year later, he became the first to land five. And at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, he finished 17th after a hugely disappointing performance in the Short Program before storming back to win the Free Skating Program end finishing fifth overall.

The International Skating Union (ISU) is proud to announce the launch of The Ice Skating Podcast, a fortnightly show featuring exciting news and interviews from the world of Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Short Track Speed Skating and Synchronized Skating, coming soon.

She was 14 months old when she had her first pair of inline skates, but only at age seventeen Francesca Lollobrigida she had her first taste of ice skating in Baselga di Piné. “I was in my inline suit with short sleeves and all the ice skaters were looking at me, what is she going to do?” Looking back she laughs about it. Over the years Lollobrigida has become a household name in International Speed Skating.

Bringing his artistic skills on to the ice in more ways than one, Itzhak de Laat hopes to become the Netherlands’ next big Short Track Speed Skating name, wearing his self-designed helmets.

This season the campaign evolves into This is #UpAgain. Athletes celebrate life back on the ice, share how they stay strong and have the opportunity to thank those who supported them through tough times.​

An Olympic medal in Speed Skating for Spain? It never happened before, but that doesn’t stop Nil Llop (ESP) from dreaming. The 20-year-old Catalan believes in opportunities, even when it’s against all odds. After a training accident in 2018, doctors said that he would never be able to skate again but one year later he became ISU World Junior Champion at the World Roller Games. Llop combines roller skating with ice skating because he strives to be an Olympian.

Growing up in Le Havre, France, Sebastien Lepape was ten years old when a friend introduced him to Short Track Speed Skating. Lepape was hooked immediately and pursued no other sport from that moment. All he wanted was to get faster and faster on the ice – which he did.

Today marks the unveiling of “Circles and Squares”, the official song for the 2021 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. The song is performed by international artists Måns Zelmerlöw and Polina Gagarina and was specially commissioned for the event, which will be held at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm (SWE) from March 22 – 28.

A total of 157 personal bests, 6 track records and the first World Record at the sea-level Thialf track since 2007 as a climax on the final Sunday. The Heerenveen Speed Skating hub was a huge success and not only by the numbers.

The ISU Development Commission and the ISU Centers of Excellence (CoE) from the Speed Skating Branch, come together to create a “Keep Training“ video series featuring Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating equipment.

  The Speed Skating Season came to a climax in the Heerenveen Hub this weekend with the ISU World Speed Skaitng Championships 2021. Check out a selection of some of the best pictures captured. 

Nils van der Poel did what many thought to be impossible in modern Speed Skating on Sunday: breaking a world record on a sea-level rink. The 24-year-old Swede clocked 12 minutes, 32.95 seconds to win the world title in the 10,000m, an event he labeled ‘the soul of Speed Skating’. In the preceding 1500m, Thomas Krol (NED) got up again with a gold medal, having been disqualified for two false starts in Saturday’s 1000m.

Ragne Wiklund (NOR) made Speed Skating history on the final day of the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen with a surprise win in the Ladies’ 1500m. The 20-year-old from Oslo became only the second Norwegian female world champion in Speed Skating history, and the first since 1938. In the concluding 5000m, Irene Schouten (NED) took gold to make amends for a disappointing third place in Saturday’s Mass Start.