ISU

The Olympic Day was also an occasion to celebrate another great announcement: Brittany Bowe (USA), three-time Olympian and seven-time Speed Skating World Champion, was presented today with a Fair Play award from the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) in recognition of her extraordinary display of sporting spirit during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

The International Skating Union (ISU) is honored to announce that ISU Honorary President Jan Dijkema (2016-2022) was presented today with the Olympic Order – the highest distinction in the Olympic Movement – by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach. Coinciding with the Olympic Day celebration that takes place annually on June 23, the award ceremony was held at the Olympic House in Lausanne (SUI).

As the summer training and season preparations continue, more news and updates from the Skaters are coming in. Believe it or not – there was even a competition happening! However, the Skaters are not only active on the ice these days.

“The world is moving faster than ever, but young people are moving less.” This statement, based on research made by the World Health Organization (WHO), has driven the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to come up this year with the “Let’s Move” initiative, designed to inspire and enable the world to move more every day. Starting today, June 23, 2023, to mark the Olympic Day, “Let’s Move” aims at creating a global movement encouraging people to make time – at least 30 minutes a day – for physical activity. In its continued support to the Olympic Day spirit and values, the International Skating Union (ISU) invites the ice skating community to join the movement and launches on this occasion a special training campaign in collaboration with internationally renowned athletes from all ISU disciplines.

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The ISU Council met between June 9-11, 2023 and decided to provisionally allot the following ISU Events for the seasons 2023/24 through to 2027/28: 

 The ISU Council met on June 9-11, 2023 and discussed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations of March 28, 2023 for International Federations on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarussian passport in international competitions.

It is officially summer! While the sun is (hopefully) shining, the skaters keep cool on the ice as they delve into summer practice and training camps. However, some are enjoying their vacation or it’s show time for them.

After a breakthrough debut year, Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) blitzed to the international sprint elite in his second season at senior level. With the ISU European Sprint title in Hamar (NOR), the 22-year-old Dutchman won his career first major international title.

The off-season does not mean that the Skaters are just on vacation. Besides summer training and making new programs, there are a lot of things going on in the skating world. Let’s see what has happened in the past few weeks.

The Speed Skating community sadly lost an Olympic champion. On Saturday, May 20 2023, Richard “Terry” McDermott (USA) passed away at age 82. McDermott won 500m gold at the 1964 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck (AUT), and was inducted into the US Speed Skating Hall of Fame in 1977. Terry is also famous for his television appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show during which the Beatles pop band was also invited.

It is with great sadness that the International Skating Union (ISU) learned of the passing of the famous Dutch Speed Skating coach Leen Pfrommer,  who died at the age of 87 in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Pfrommer was passionate about Speed Skating and coached several generations of top Dutch skaters, including Ard Schenk (NED), the prolific athlete who won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo (JPN).

Post-Olympic years often hand a chance to upcoming talents to make a name for themselves, but hardly ever did a new kid on the block enter the international Speed Skating elite with such brutal force as Jordan Stolz (USA) did last season. 

Speed Skating fans, get ready to mark your calendars! The International Skating Union (ISU) has released its competition calendar for the next four seasons of Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating, and it promises to be an exciting few years for fans of the sport. From ISU World Championships to ISU World Cups, there will be no shortage of thrilling events to watch.

What. A. Senior debut! Jordan Stolz (USA) had the time of his life at the 2023 ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen (NED), winning three gold medals in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m.