ISU

Olympic seasons tend to be a little different form regular seasons in speed skating. Suit colors can suddenly become a topic of discussion, especially if a team claims that blue makes you skate faster than red.

As 2017 comes to a close the ISU President, Mr. Jan Dijkema, has a special message for all skating friends.

Qualification of event quota places for the Olympic Winter Games 2018 based on Special Olympic Qualification Classification (SOQC)

Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN) wrapped up the Salt Lake City World Cup with a superb world record in the Men’s 5000m. The Canadian blew away the previous best of 6 minutes, 3.32 seconds, set by Sven Kramer (NED) in Calgary 10 years ago, as he finished strongly in 6:01.86. It was the fourth world record this weekend at the Utah Olympic Oval.

Natalia Voronina (RUS) won the second World Cup gold medal of her career and broke her own national record in the Ladies 3000m at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City on Sunday.

After his 1500m world record on Saturday, Denis Yuskov (RUS) concluded his Salt Lake City World Cup campaign with the 1000m gold on Sunday. Training partner Koen Verweij (NED) took silver again and Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) clinched the bronze.

Nao Kodaira (JPN) blamed high air pressure for her missing a 500m world record on Friday, but she made amends by skating the fastest ever Ladies 1000m in 1 minute, 12.09 seconds in Salt Lake City on Sunday.

Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) surprised the pack and herself when she pulled off a breakaway win in the Ladies Mass Start that gives her a clear lead in the World Cup rankings.

Lee Seung-Hoon (KOR) added another Mass Start gold to his tally on Saturday. The 29-year-old Korean edged out Livio Wenger (SUI) and Bart Swings (BEL) in the final sprint, to leave them with silver and gold respectively.

While Nao Kodaira (JPN) rules the Ladies 500m, her compatriot Miho Takagi is queen in the ‘Race of the Kings’. On Saturday in Salt Lake City, Takagi maintained her immaculate record in the 1500m World Cup, taking her fourth gold this season. Marrit Leenstra (NED) and Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS) took silver and bronze respectively.

After falling agonizingly short a week ago, Denis Yuskov (RUS) lived up to expectations and wrote his name in the history books when he skated 1 minute and 41.02 seconds in the 1500m in Salt Lake City to take gold and shave 0.02 seconds off the world record.

In a battle of the Russian giants Ruslan Murashov defeated Pavel Kulizhnikov to win the Men’s 500m in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Dutchmen Kai Verbij and Dai Dai Ntab took silver and bronze.

It was Nao Kodaira (JPN) leading the way yet again in the Ladies 500m on the second day of World Cup racing in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Finishing in 36.54 seconds, she was 0.04 slower than the day before, but the 31-year-old World Champion has clocked the second and third best time ever over 500m this weekend.

Further to the IOC Executive Board decision of 5 December 2017 with regards to the Russian participation at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018

The Canadian men made amends on Friday for their crash in the Team Pursuit in front of a home crowd in Calgary last week. Ted-Jan Bloemen, Denny Morrison and Benjamin Donnelly (CAN) won the Team Pursuit in Salt Lake City in a national record of 3 minutes and 36.44 seconds.