ISU

 

#SpeedSkating

After a roller coaster season with surprise winners, big champions and spectacular world records, long track Speed Skating is gearing up for a last peak at the ISU World Speed Skating Allround & Sprint Championships. It’s not about single distance medals, but about consistency and stamina over the course of a four-distance tournament. In the men’s Allround event threefold champion Patrick Roest (NED) will take on whirlwind Jordan Stolz (USA) in a battle between endurance and speed, while in the women’s field Miho Takagi (JPN) is taking on the challenge of skating both the Sprint and the Allround championships. 

 

‘The most prestigious one’

Retaining his 500m, 1000m and 1500m titles at the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Calgary (CAN) last month, Jordan Stolz (USA)  could have been the outright favorite for the World Sprint Championships in Inzell (GER), but the American teenager chose differently. He and his coach Bob Corby considered skating both the Sprint and the Allround championships in the course of four days too high a mountain to climb, therefore Stolz had to choose. Looking at the Speed Skating history books, he set his sights on the Allround title.

“I feel that’s the more prestigious one,” he said.

Jordan Stolz (USA) celebrates during the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Calgary (CAN). @ISU

To take the title, Stolz has a battle on his hands with Patrick Roest (NED), who won the title in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Since then the tournament is only held every two years, and in 2022 Roest lost his title to Nils van der Poel (SWE), who decided to retire afterwards.

Patrick Roest (NED) competes during the ISU European Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Heerenveen (NED). @ISU

Whereas Van der Poel built his Allround dominance on superior long distances, Stolz has to take a decisive lead before heading into the final 10.000m, with Roest clearly being the better skater when it comes to stamina.

 

Pedersen farewell

For Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) the Inzell Championships will be his last, as he decided to hang up his blades after this season. The 31-year-old Norwegian, is one of the best Allround skaters in history never to have won the Allround title.

Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) competes during the ISU European Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Heerenveen(NED). @ISU

In 2016, Pedersen took silver behind record champion Sven Kramer (NED), and in 2018, 2019 and 2020 he finished second behind Roest. In 2018 he got closer to the title than ever. Heading into the final 10.000m in Amsterdam (NED), Pedersen had a sheer unbridgeable gap over Roest, but an unlucky self-inflicted fall in the final distance blew his chances to win the title.

Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR), Sven Kramer (NED) and Jan Blokhuijsen (NED) pose during the ISU Allround Speed Skating World Championship 2016 in Berlin (GER). @ISU

Schouten leaves open field

In the women’s tournament Irene Schouten (NED) has left an open playing field. After having won three World titles at the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Calgary (CAN), the defending World Allround Champion surprisingly announced her Speed Skating retirement.

Joy Beune (NED), who won the 5000m World title in Calgary (CAN), adding a bronze medal in the 1500m, seems to be the most likely candidate to succeed Schouten, but there’s more contenders. Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA), Marijke Groenewoud (NED), Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (NED) Valérie Maltais (CAN), Ivanie Blondin (CAN) and even five-time champion Martina Sáblíková (CZE) are in the mix.

 

Takagi goes for double

Miho Takagi (JPN) is on the entry list for the Allround tournament too, but she’ll probably start a little tired. The 2018 World Allround Champion will also take on the World Sprint Championships on Thursday and Friday. Takagi won the World Sprint title in 2020 and is one of only five skaters to have both the World Allround and Sprint titles on her list of honors. Since the World Allround and World Sprint Championships are held as a combined tournament (2020, Hamar), no skater succeeded in taking both titles.

Ireen Wust (NED), Miho Takagi (JPN) and Annouk Van Der Weijden (NED) pose during the ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championship 2018 Amsterdam (NED). @ISU

In Inzell, Takagi faces competition from defending champion Jutta Leerdam (NED), whom she defeated in the 1000m at the World Single Distance Championships in Calgary (CAN). Other contenders are Americans Kimi Goetz and Erin Jackson, Leerdam’s compatriot and 500m World Champion Femke Kok (NED) and Korea’s Kim Min Sun (KOR).

 

Dubreuil looking for redemption

With Stolz absent due to his Allround ambitions, the men’s Sprint field is wide open. The 2022 World Champion Thomas Krol (NED) did not manage to qualify and decided to hang up his blades after a disappointing season. Laurent Dubreuil (CAN), who led the 2022 championships after the first day but had to pull out due to a positive Covid-test, hopes to redeem himself.

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) competes during the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Salt Lake City (USA)

The 2020 champion Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) has the best combined result over 500m and 1000m of all participants this season and seems to be the top favorite based on the qualification ranking. Dutch youngster Jenning de Boo (NED) and Marten Liiv (EST) are right behind the Japanese sprinter.

 

Speed Skating tradition

Although the single distance format tends to get more attention because it’s Olympic style, the long track Speed Skating championships were traditionally decided by racing multiple distance tournaments. The first ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships were held in 1893, when Jaap Eden (NED) took the title in Amsterdam (NED). The first World Single Distance Championships were held over a century later in Hamar (NOR) in 1996.

In the traditional Allround format skaters a classification is made up after four distances. Men skate the 500m and the 5000m on the first day and the 1500m and the 10.000m on the second. The women’s distances are 500m, 3000m, 1500m and 5000m.

The World Sprint Championships were first held in 1970. In this format both the men and the women skate the 500m and the 1000m twice.

In Inzell (GER), the Sprint Championships are held on Thursday and Friday, and the Allround Championships are scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

Samalog score

In both the Sprint and the Allround tournaments the final ranking is based on the so-called samalog score over four distances. The samalog system converts times into points, with the 500m as starting point. For a 500m race, the number of seconds counts as the number of points. For the 1000m the number of seconds is divided by two to calculate the number of points; for the 1500m it’s divided by three, for the 3000m by six, for the 5000m by ten and for the 10,000m by twenty.

 

Program:

 

THURSDAY, 7. MARCH 2024

19:00 - 1st 500m Women

19:00 - 1st 500m Men

19:00 - 1st 1000m Women

19:00 - 1st 1000m Men

 

FRIDAY, 8. MARCH 2024

18:30 - 2nd 500m Women

18:30 - 2nd 500m Men

18:30 - 2nd 1000m Women

18:30 - 2nd 1000m Men

 

SATURDAY, 9. MARCH 2024

12:45 - 500m Women

12:45 - 500m Men

12:45 - 3000m Women

12:45 - 5000m Men

 

SUNDAY, 10. MARCH 2024

13:15 - 1500m Women

13:15 - 1500m Men

13:15 - 5000m Women

13:15 - 10000m Men