What is speed skating?
Speed skating is ice racing in two very different Olympic forms. Long track runs on a 400-metre oval, two skaters at a time in separate lanes, pure against the clock — distances from the 500 m to the 10,000 m, plus team pursuit and mass start. Short track packs four to six skaters onto a 111-metre track for elimination racing where contact, tactics and disqualifications decide everything.[1] [2]
How does it work?
Both codes run under the ISU: World Cup series through the winter, then the World Single Distances and Allround championships in long track and the World Short Track Championships, with Olympic qualification decided on World Cup results. Long track's times are ratified world records — track altitude and ice conditions make Salt Lake City and Calgary the fastest ovals on Earth.[2] [3]
Where is it strong?
The Netherlands owns long track — skating is a national religion, and Dutch skaters routinely take most of the oval's medals, with Femke Kok and Jutta Leerdam sweeping the 2026 sprint podiums — while Jordan Stolz of the United States won the 500 m and 1000 m at Milano Cortina at 21, and Italy's men took a home team pursuit gold. Short track belongs to South Korea, China, Canada and the Netherlands.[3] [4]
How is speed skating awarded?
- Olympic and world championship medals — single distances, allround, sprint and short track.[3]
- ISU-ratified world records — long track's absolute measure, by distance and venue.[2]
- ISU World Cup standings and world rankings — the published qualification ladder.[2]
- National-team selection — the Dutch Olympic trials among the toughest qualifying events in any sport.[4]
Who has won the most in speed skating?
Long track and short track are separate Olympic disciplines and are listed separately; through Milano Cortina 2026, where Arianna Fontana took her medal count to fourteen.
Long track — most Olympic medals, men
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sven Kramer | NED | 2006–2018 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | Clas Thunberg | FIN | 1924–1928 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Ivar Ballangrud | NOR | 1928–1936 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Lee Seung-Hun | KOR | 2010–2022 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 5= | Roald Larsen | NOR | 1924–1928 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 5= | Rintje Ritsma | NED | 1994–2006 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 | Eric Heiden | USA | 1980 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 8= | Yevgeny Grishin | RUS URS | 1956–1964 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 8= | Johann Olav Koss | NOR | 1992–1994 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Knut Johannesen | NOR | 1956–1964 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 11 | Jorrit Bergsma | NED | 2014–2026 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 12 | Chad Hedrick | USA | 2006–2010 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Long track — most Olympic medals, women
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ireen Wüst | NED | 2006–2022 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 13 |
| 2 | Miho Takagi | JPN | 2018–2026 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Claudia Pechstein | GER | 1992–2006 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 4= | Karin Enke-Kania | GDR | 1980–1988 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 4= | Gunda Kleemann-Niemann-Stirnemann | GDR GER | 1992–1998 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | Martina Sáblíková | CZE | 2010–2022 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | Andrea Ehrig-Schöne-Mitscherlich | GDR | 1976–1988 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Lidiya Skoblikova | RUS URS | 1960–1964 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 | Bonnie Blair | USA | 1988–1994 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 10= | Cindy Klassen | CAN | 2002–2006 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 10= | Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong | NED | 2018–2026 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Long track — country table
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 53 | 50 | 43 | 146 |
| 2 | Norway | 29 | 31 | 31 | 91 |
| 3 | United States | 32 | 24 | 20 | 76 |
| 4 | Soviet Union | 24 | 17 | 19 | 60 |
| 5 | Canada | 11 | 17 | 19 | 47 |
| 6 | Germany | 14 | 16 | 10 | 40 |
| 7 | East Germany | 8 | 12 | 9 | 29 |
| 8 | Japan | 5 | 10 | 14 | 29 |
| 9 | Finland | 7 | 8 | 9 | 24 |
| 10 | Republic of Korea | 5 | 10 | 5 | 20 |
Short track — most Olympic medals, men
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viktor An | KOR RUS | 2006–2014 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | Apolo Anton Ohno | USA | 2002–2010 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | Charles Hamelin | CAN | 2006–2022 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | Marc Gagnon | CAN | 1994–2002 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 5= | François-Louis Tremblay | CAN | 2002–2010 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 5= | Wu Dajing | CHN | 2014–2022 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 5= | Steven Dubois | CAN | 2022–2026 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 8= | Lee Ho-Seok | KOR | 2006–2010 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 8= | Hwang Dae-Heon | KOR | 2018–2026 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Li Jiajun | CHN | 1998–2006 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Short track — most Olympic medals, women
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arianna Fontana | ITA | 2006–2026 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| 2 | Choi Min-Jeong | KOR | 2018–2026 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | Wang Meng | CHN | 2006–2010 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | Suzanne Schulting | NED | 2018–2022 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Kim Boutin | CAN | 2018–2026 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | Jeon Lee-Gyeong | KOR | 1994–1998 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | Sim Seok-Hui | KOR | 2014–2026 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Yang Yang (A) | CHN | 1998–2006 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 9 | Park Seung-Hui | KOR | 2010–2014 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 | Yang Yang (S) | CHN | 1998–2002 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Short track — country table
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Republic of Korea | 28 | 19 | 13 | 60 |
| 2 | Canada | 11 | 15 | 16 | 42 |
| 3 | People's Republic of China | 12 | 17 | 9 | 38 |
| 4 | United States | 4 | 7 | 10 | 21 |
| 5 | Italy | 4 | 8 | 7 | 19 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 7 | Russian Federation | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Hungary | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 10 | Bulgaria | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | ROC | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Ties are broken by gold, then silver; a tie at tenth place is shown in full when four or fewer share it. Historic teams are kept as separate rows exactly as the source counts them. Verified September 2026.[5] [6]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Speed skating. Accessed August 2026.
- ISU — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- NBC Olympics — Olympic speed skating at Milan Cortina 2026. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympics.com — Italy surge to speed skating men's team pursuit gold. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympedia — Speed Skating and Short Track Speed Skating: medal tables. Accessed September 2026.
- Olympedia — medals by athlete (speed skating disciplines, Olympic Games), each athlete's results page re-counted. Accessed September 2026.