ISU

Following the withdrawal of the Norwegian and the Russian Teams in preparation for the team pursuit the draw today delivered no big surprises.

Jorien ter Mors leads the Dutch clean sweep in a new Olympic record time of 1:53.51. The defending champion Ireen Wüst skated 1:54.09 and finished with the silver medal and Lotte van Beek (NED) took the bronze with 1:54.54.

Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) confidently danced to first place in the short dance. Defending Olympic champions Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir of Canada are currently ranked second, trailing the leaders by 2.56 points. Russia’s Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov stand in third place

To the delight of the home crowd Victor An and Vladimir Grigorev clenched the gold and silver medal respectively and Sjinkie Knegt finished third, winning the first medal in Short Track Speed Skating for the Netherlands.

Zhou Yang (CHN) won the ladies 1500m for the second time in a row, Shim Suk-Hee (KOR) finished in second place and Arianna Fontana (ITA) won bronze. With three races in one day for those who reached the final, it was a tough day.

For the first time in Olympic history a Polish skater won a gold medal in Speed Skating. Zbigniew Bródka took the distance with the smallest ever margin on Koen Verweij (NED). The 2014 Men’s 1000m silver medalist Denny Morrison (CAN) took the bronze

After a day’s break the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Speed Skating competition will continue on Sunday in the Adler Arena with the Men’s 1500m.

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu struck gold and became the first Japanese man to win the title. His win was also the first gold medal for Japan at Sochi 2014. Patrick Chan of Canada took the silver medal and Denis Ten of Kazakhstan surged from ninth after the Short Program to capture the bronze.

Jianrou Li (CHN) took the title followed by Arianna Fontana (ITA) who had won bronze in Vancouver in the same distance and in Turin for the Ladies’ Relay. Seung-Hi Park (KOR) got the bronze medal.

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu set a record score to take the lead in an eventful Men's Short Program at the Iceberg Skating Palace on Thursday. Patrick Chan of Canada sits second place and Javier Fernandez came third before the final Free Skating on Friday.

Hong Zhang from China won the first gold medal for China in speed skating history. Ireen Wüst (NED), who won gold in the 3000m finished in second place and team mate Margot Boer had her second bronze of the week.

Russia’s Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov were crowned Olympic Champions in Sochi on home ice on Wednesday. Teammates Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov claimed the silver medal and Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy of Germany settled for the bronze.

In the third Speed Skating Men’s distance which was the 1000m, Stefan Groothuis (NED) won in 1:08.39, a new track record. Denny Morrison (CAN) got silver in 1:08.43 and Michel Mulder, the 500m champion, grabbed bronze in 1:08.74, thus becoming the first multi-medalist at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Russia’s Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov skated to the lead in the Pairs Short Program setting a record score on the way. Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy of Germany are sitting in second place, trailing the Russians by 4.53 points. Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov of Russia follow in third place.

Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) won gold in the ladies’ 500m speed skating event in two Olympic record times. In second place came Olga Fatkulina (RUS) and the bronze medal went to Margot Boer (NED).