ISU

Michael RICHMOND (AUS) skates during the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games @IOC

There is no doubt every single one of the Men’s and Women’s individual and Relay world record setters since Richmond have possessed these varied and extraordinary talents. A mere glance down the table of those to have laid claim – however briefly – to the title of the world’s fastest man on ice certainly confirms this.

Following Richmond’s opening 500m mark of 46.39 seconds, set in The Hague, Netherlands, in March 1981, double Olympic champion Gaetan Boucher (CAN) and compatriot Louis Grenier took the mantle on, holding the 500m record between them for almost six years.

Gaetan Boucher (CAN) celebrates during the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo (BIH) @GettyImages

Not all the men’s 500m record holders held the title for so long. In March 1998 China’s Feng Kai was the world’s fastest sprinter for just eight days before Italian Nicola Franceschina took the record.

From world’s fastest man to round-the-world champion

While legendary World Championship and Olympic skaters – including Marc Gagnon (CAN) and Kim Ki-Hoon (KOR), who boast three Olympic gold medals each – proliferate the list of the Men’s 1000m world record holders between 1981 and 2000, these honors boards are not only the preserve of household names.

Marc Gagnon (CAN) celebrates during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City (USA) @GettyImages

New Zealand would never profess to being a powerhouse of Short Track but, for a brief period in the early 1990s, this small, southern hemisphere nation had a claim on three world records.

It all started in March 1992 when Andrew Nicholson (NZL) produced the fastest ever Men’s 1500m. Less than a month later, his countryman Michael McMillen repeated the feat in the 1000m. And then, for good measure, in early 1993 the duo teamed up with Andrew’s brother Chris Nicholson and Matthew Biggs to record the then quickest Men’s 5000m Relay.

To date, these are New Zealand’s only ever Short Track world record holders, but, in a brilliant footnote to the story, these are not Andrew Nicholson’s sole world records. In 2015, the once fastest man over 1500m on ice became the quickest person to ever complete the 29,179km circumnavigation of the globe unsupported on a bicycle.

By comparison Japan’s Tatsuyoshi Ishihara does not have quite such a tale to tell but his efforts still demand recognition. A full decade after first setting the 1500m Men’s mark at 2:27.27 in 1981, Tatsuyoshi reclaimed his record by going 3.89 seconds quicker in 1991.

Tatsuyoshi Ishihara (JPN) competes during the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary (CAN) @IOC

Elsewhere, the Republic of Korea defied the curious anomaly of never having a Men’s 1500m world record holder in this period by dominating the men’s 5000m Relay records. Between December 1991 and December 1999, Korean quartets set record marks an exhilarating six times.

All-time greats go quicker and quicker

Former Speed Skater Sylvie Daigle (CAN) was an early sprint star in Short Track. In April 1982, she shaved nearly two seconds off Kato Miyoshi’s 1981 500m time before lowering the record again 12 months later. Daigle held the record for almost four years.

Sylvie Daigle (CAN) competes during the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer (NOR) @GettyImages

Subsequently, the five-time World Champion became a serial world record holder in the 1980s, owning the 1000m mark for two years and the world’s best 1500m time for almost four years. After she bowed out, a succession of the sport’s greatest took over.

First Evgenia Radanova (BUL) signaled her virtuoso talent by breaking the 500m world record in November 1998. After losing it to the Italian Marinella Canclini less than three months later, Radanova reclaimed the honor in early 2000. Also a world record holder over 1500m, Radanova remains the only Bulgarian ever to have set a world-leading mark.

Evgenia Radanova (BUL) competes during the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games in Salt Lake City (USA) @GettyImages

Nathalie Lambert (CAN) is far from the only Canadian to top the standings but the three-time Olympic medalist did complete the remarkable feat of lowering her best 1000m time by almost 10 seconds from her first world-leading mark in 1985 to her second in 1993.

China’s Yang Yang (A) then ushered in the 21st century by confirming her legendary ability. The skater who would go on to become a so-far unmatched six-time overall World Champion in the women’s field, lowered the 1000m record three times and held the 500m mark.

Koreans start to flex their muscles

With skating surfaces, equipment, training, and support structures all improving rapidly in the final two decades of the 20th century it’s maybe not surprising the progression of records is eye-catching across all Short Track events, but perhaps nowhere more so than in the Women’s 1500m and 3000m Relay.

Canada’s Louise Begin set the opening time of 2:42.13 in the 1500m in 1982 and just 17 years later Kim Moon-Jung was completing the same distance more than 20 seconds faster.

Moon-Jung was one of a succession of Korean long-distance specialists. Double Olympic Relay champion Kim Yun-Mi took the 1500m record from four-time Olympic gold medalist Chun Lee-Kyung, who herself had grabbed the mark from compatriot and 1992 overall World Champion Kim So-Hee.

Kim Yun Mi (KOR) competes during the 2005 Short Track Speed Skating Team Championship in Chuncheon (KOR) @GettyImages

Perhaps not surprisingly, by the mid-1990s Korea were dominating the Women’s Relay. A quartet including Chun and Kim Yun-Mi recorded 4:16.260 in 1998 – 31.02 seconds quicker than the first world record, set in 1988 by an Italian team.

With Korea now standing significantly clear at the top of the all-time Olympic Short Track and World Championship medal tables, such excellence was clearly a sign of things to come.