Short track speed skating

Short track speed skating

500 meters short track heat at the 2004 World Cup in Saguenay
Highest governing body International Skating Union
Characteristics
Mixed gender Yes
Olympic 1992-present

Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m. The rink itself is 60 m by 30 m, which is the same size as an international-sized ice hockey rink.

Contents

History

Short track speed skating originated in the speed skating events held with mass starts. This form of speed skating was mainly practiced in the United States and Canada, as opposed to the international form, where skaters skated in pairs. At the 1932 Winter Olympics, speed skating events were conducted in the mass start form. Competitions in North America were also held indoors, for example in Madison Square Garden, New York, and therefore on shorter tracks than usual for outdoor skating.

In 1967, the International Skating Union adopted short track speed skating, although it did not organize international competitions until 1976. World Championships have been held since 1981 (though events held in 1976-1980 under different names later received the status of World Championships). After several changes in the name of the competition (last time in 1989), the event is now held annually as the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics, held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, short track was a demonstration sport. It was upgraded to a full Olympic sport in 1992 and has been part of the Winter Olympics since. The programme was expanded from 4 in 1992 to 8 in 2002. The events are the same for both men and women: 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000m, and the relay (5000 m (men)/3000 m (women)).

With smaller ice tracks and shorter, often spectacular competitions, short track speed skating has grown more popular than the older long track in many countries.

Rules

There are several actions that will result in skaters being disqualified (DQ) from a race, and having their time rendered invalid.

Classes

In Canada, short track competitions are held either as all-points meets, where skaters are seeded based only on their times for a standard distance (usually the 500m), or an age class, where people are seeded by age and gender. All-points meets allow racing against skaters of all ages and genders, with the exception of the Masters age class (30+). All-points meets are usually held at the local level in only certain provinces. Age class meets are utilized at the provincial and national levels. Age classes are:

Ages are determined as of July 1 or June 30 prior to competition. At International and Olympic competitions, skaters are placed by gender only.

World records

Men

Distance Athlete Nation City Date Record Time
500 meters Sung Si-Bak  South Korea Osaka, Japan February 26, 2007 40.651
1000 meters Charles Hamelin  Canada Montreal, QC January 18, 2009 1:23.454
1500 meters Noh Jin-Kyu  South Korea Shanghai, China December 10, 2011 2:09.041
3000 meters Noh Jin-Kyu  South Korea Warsaw, Poland March 19, 2011 4:31.891
5000 m relay South Korea*  South Korea Shanghai, China December 9, 2011 6:35.884
* Relay members for South Korea were: Noh Jinkyu, Kwak Yoon-Gy, Sin Da Woon and Lee Ho-Suk

Women

Distance Athlete Nation City Date Record Time
500 meters Wang Meng  China Beijing, China November 29, 2008 42.609
1000 meters Zhou Yang  China Vancouver, Canada February 25, 2010 1:29.049
1500 meters Zhou Yang  China Salt Lake City, UT February 9, 2008 2:16.729
3000 meters Jung Eun-Ju  South Korea Harbin, China March 15, 2008 4:46.983
3000 m relay China*  China Vancouver, BC February 24, 2010 4:06.610
* Members of the Chinese National Team: Sun Linlin, Wang Meng, Zhang Hui, Zhou Yang.

Notable skaters

The following include the list of athletes who have won an individual gold medal at an Olympic Winter Games or Overall World Championships in Short track speed skating.

Men

Athlete Nation Born Olympics World Championships (Overall) Olympics + World Championships (Overall) World Championships (Distances, Relay, Team) Total
Total Total Total Total Total
Ahn Hyun-Soo  South Korea 1985 3 0 1 4 5 1 0 6 8 1 1 10 15 10 4 29 23 11 5 39
Marc Gagnon  Canada 1975 3 0 2 5 4 2 1 7 7 2 3 12 15 9 4 28 22 11 7 40
Kim Ki-hoon  South Korea 1967 3 0 0 3 1 2 1 4 4 2 1 7 2+ 1+ 2+ 5+ 6+ 3+ 3+ 12+
Lee Ho-Suk  South Korea 1986 1 4 0 5 2 2 0 4 3 6 0 9 10 4 3 17 13 10 3 26
Apolo Anton Ohno  United States 1982 2 2 4 8 1 2 1 4 3 4 5 12 8 5 6 19 11 9 11 31
Kim Dong-Sung  South Korea 1980 1 1 0 2 2 0 1 3 3 1 2 5 10 7 3 20 13 8 4 25
Li Jiajun  China 1975 0 2 3 5 2 1 3 6 2 3 6 10 12 4 7 23 14 7 13 34
Chae Ji-Hoon  South Korea 1974 1 2 0 3 1 1 2 4 2 3 2 7 4+ 4+ 1+ 6+ 6+ 7+ 3+ 16+
Gaétan Boucher  Canada 1958 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 5 2 3 0 5 5+ 5+ ? 10+ 7+ 8+ ? 15+
Charles Hamelin  Canada 1984 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 3 2 2 1 5 8 11 2 21 10 14 3 27
Lee Jung-Su  South Korea 1989 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 3 0 0 3 5 1 0 6
Michel Daignault  Canada 1966 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 2 2 1 0 3 1+ 4+ 2+ 7+ 3+ 5+ 2+ 10+
Lee Joon-Ho  South Korea 1965 1 0 1 2 1 0 2 3 2 0 3 5 1+ 2+ 2+ 5+ 3+ 2+ 5+ 10+
Toshinobu Kawai  Japan 1967 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 2 0 1 3 3+ 1+ 3+ 6+ 5+ 1+ 4+ 10+
Guy Daignault  Canada 1954 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 11+ 8+ 1+ 20+ 13+ 8+ 1+ 22+
Tatsuyoshi Ishihara  Japan 1964 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 4 1 2 2 5 4+ 1+ 5+ 10+ 5+ 3+ 7+ 15+
Louis Grenier  Canada ? 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 4 8+ 2+ 2+ 12+ 9+ 3+ 4+ 16+
Wilf O'Reilly  United Kingdom 1964 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 2 ? 2+ 2+ 4+ 1+ 3+ 2+ 6+
Alan Rattray  United States ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 1+ 1+ ? 2+ 2+ 1+ 1+ 4+
Steven Bradbury  Australia 1973 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 1 1 3 2 1 2 5
Hiroshi Toda  Japan ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 ? ? 3+ 3+ 1+ ? 4+ 5+
Benoit Baril  Canada ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 4+ 1+ ? 5+ 5+ 1+ ? 6+
Noh Jin-Kyu  South Korea 1992 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 4 5 0 0 5
Min Ryoung  South Korea 1982 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2+ 1+ 1+ 4+ 3+ 1+ 1+ 5+
Peter van de Velde  Netherlands ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2+ 1+ ? 3+ 3+ 1+ ? 4+
James Lynch  Australia ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 ? 2+ ? 2+ 1+ 2+ ? 3+
Takafumi Nishitani  Japan 1979 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 ? 1+ 1+ 2+ 1+ 1+ 1+ 3+

Women

Athlete Nation Born Olympics World Championships (Overall) Olympics + World Championships (Overall) World Championships (Distances, Relay, Team) Total
Total Total Total Total Total
Yang Yang (A)  China 1976 2 2 1 5 5 2 0 7 7 4 1 12 27 12 5 44 34 16 6 56
Chun Lee-Kyung  South Korea 1976 4 0 1 5 3 2 0 5 7 2 1 10 10 11 3 24 17 13 4 34
Wang Meng  China 1985 4 1 1 6 2 3 0 5 6 4 1 11 12 10 3 25 18 14 4 36
Sylvie Daigle  Canada 1962 1 1 0 2 5 2 1 8 6 3 1 10 22+ 8+ ? 31+ 28+ 11+ 1+ 40+
Jin Sun-Yu  South Korea 1988 3 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 10 3 1 14 16 3 1 20
Nathalie Lambert  Canada 1962 1 2 0 3 3 2 2 7 4 4 2 10 14+ 3+ 2+ 19+ 18+ 7+ 4+ 29+
Choi Eun-Kyung  South Korea 1984 2 2 0 4 2 1 0 3 4 3 0 7 12 3 4 19 16 6 4 26
Miyoshi Kato  Japan ? 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 5 2 1 2 5 3+ 4+ 3+ 10+ 5+ 5+ 5+ 15+
Zhou Yang  China 1991 2 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 2 1 1 4 5 4 4 13 7 5 5 17
Kim So-Hee  South Korea 1976 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 2 2 1 1 4 3+ 2+ 2+ 7+ 5+ 3+ 3+ 11+
Cathy Turner  United States 1962 2 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 4 ? 1+ ? 1+ 2+ 2+ 1+ 5+
Annie Perreault  Canada 1971 2 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 5+ 2+ 6+ 13+ 7+ 2+ 7+ 16+
Eiko Shishii  Japan ? 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 3 1+ 6+ ? 7+ 3+ 6+ 1+ 10+
Maryse Perreault  Canada ? 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 4 11+ 3+ 2+ 16+ 12+ 5+ 3+ 20+
Ko Gi-Hyun  South Korea 1986 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 2 0 3 5 2 1 8 6 4 1 11
Bonnie Blair  United States 1964 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 3 ? 1+ 2+ 3+ 1+ 2+ 3+ 6+
Park Seung-Hi  South Korea 1992 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 3 6 2 0 8 7 2 2 11
Cho Ha-Ri  South Korea 1986 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 6 2 3 11 7 2 4 13
Mariko Kinoshita  Japan 1967 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 1+ 6+ ? 7+ 2+ 6+ 1+ 9+
Celeste Chlapaty  United States ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2+ ? ? ? 3+ ? ? 3+
Brenda Webster  Canada ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1+ 2+ ? 3+ 2+ 2+ ? 4+
Sarah Docter  United States ? 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1+ ? ? 1+ 2+ ? ? 2+

See also

External links

Summer sports
Winter sports
Former Olympic sports
Part of the 2016 program