ISU

Every season the ISU invites its Members to send applications to host events as part of the Challenger Series. For the season 2019/20 two applications from Asia were received, Taipei and Hong Kong, to host an event as part of the Series. During its meeting last March, the ISU Council decided to include the event proposed by the Chinese Taipei Skating Union to be held in Taipei City mostly due to more suitable dates.

Arguably the best 1000m skater of her generation, Christine Nesbitt (CAN) was inducted to the Olympic Oval Hall of Champions during the 2019 ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Calgary. In 2017 she had already been inducted in Canada's Speed Skating Hall of Fame. The Melbourne born Canadian celebrated her biggest success on home soil at the Richmond Olympic Oval at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, when she took gold in her signature race.

Inline skating and ice skating are similar at first sight. Many Speed Skating champions also compete in inline competitions and the other way around. Yet, apart from the obvious differences between wheels on tarmac and blades on ice, the two sports require different techniques. Combining inline and ice is by no means easy.

As an Afro-American kid form the south side of Chicago, Shani Davis entered the international Speed Skating world as an exception in the early 2000s. In a prolific career over the course of more than fifteen years the 36-year-old American collected two Olympic titles, eleven ISU World Speed Skating titles, and 58 ISU World Cup Speed Skating wins. With 13,331 points he tops the all-time ranking in career ISU World Cup Speed Skating points.

The winter season is over and it’s time for some summer vibes! It's so simple to join the campaign: just snap a pic, record a video, tag us and use #SkatingSummer.

The ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships is In Focus. Have a look at the top pictures of some of the fastest athletes out there. 

The ISU Council decided to provisionally allot the following ISU Championships for the seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22. The allotments of all other Championships are kept pending until the next scheduled ISU Council meeting in October 2019 and further information regarding the decisions of the Council in Rome, will be published at a later date.

The most successful Dutch Olympian of all-time was competing at the ISU European Speed Skating Championships in Collalbo, only a few days after having buried her best friend and 2008 ISU World Allround Speed Skating Champion Paulien van Deutekom. Wüst was devastated, but in all her grief and despair she knew that there was only one thing she could do. 

Two-time Olympic Champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) has announced her retirement from Speed Skating at an emotional press conference in Seoul on May 16, 2019. The 30-year-old Korean sprinter suffered from a persistent chronic knee injury, which has been hampering her for years already. With 36.36 seconds Lee is the current world record holder in the ladies' 500m.

With four men in the top ten of the 500m in the 2018-2019 final ISU World Cup Speed Skating classification, Japan retuned as a powerhouse in international men's sprinting. 

Patrick Roest (NED) was crowned ISU World Allround Speed Skating Champion in Amsterdam in March 2018, with nine-time champion Sven Kramer (NED) finishing fourth. Had the pupil definitely beaten his master? The Dutch team mates crossed swords over the ISU European and the ISU World Allround Speed Skating title again in the 2018/19 season.

Nao Kodaira (JPN) started the 2018/19 Speed Skating season as the lady to beat in the 500m, but Vanessa Herzog (AUT) was up for the challenge. The Japanese sprint queen won the first four 500m races of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating season on home soil in Obihiro and Tomakomai, with her Austrian challenger coming second in all four races. Kodaira and Herzog were gearing up for a season long fascinating battle in the shortest distance.

The Utah Olympic Oval confirmed its name as the fastest ice rink on the planet with six new world records broken during the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final 2019. In 2020 the iconic venue will host the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships and currently holds four Ladies' and six current Men's world records. 

Today Ida Hellström from Finland was elected to the ISU Athletes Commission as the Synchronized Skating representative.

The 2019 World Figure Skating Champions and the ISU President Mr. Jan Dijkema show their commitment to Sport for Development and Peace by showing a #WhiteCard as a strong symbolic gesture.