The long track Speed Skating starts its new season this weekend with the first of six ISU World Cup events in Stavanger (NOR) from November 11-13, 2022. All six World Cup legs are equally important in the qualification battle for the season’s climax at the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen (NED) in March. Skaters cannot afford to ease into the season, because every race counts.
General view of Stadium competing during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final at the Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands. @ Getty Images
In previous seasons, the ISU World Cup Final used to be scheduled after the World Single Distance Championships, but this time it’s the other way around. The World Cup Series has a slightly different set-up this season. Instead of four or five regular events with a World Cup Final at the end, there will be six similar events in total.
The Series start in November with events in back-to-back weekends in Stavanger (NOR) and Heerenveen (NED), followed by two weekends in Calgary (CAN) on December 9-11 and 16-18, and finally another doubleheader in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) on 10-12 and 17-19 February 2023. Skaters collect the same amount of ranking points in all six World Cup events, so there’s no double points in the Final.
Taiyo Nonomura (JPN) competes at the 2021 ISU World Cup Speed Skating at Sormarka Arena in Stavanger, Norway. @ ISU
Four Continents in Quebec (CAN)
The first two World Cup events are qualifying events for the third edition of the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships, which will be held at the Centre de Glaces ice rink in Quebec, Canada, from December 2-4 , 2022.
The Centre de Glaces is a newly built facility, which puts a roof over the previously outdoor Quebec track, named after Canadian Sprint legend Gaétan Boucher. With a roof on top, the Gaétan Boucher Oval, proved to have fast ice, when Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) won the 500m title in 34,37s, at the Canadian National Championships on October 13, 2022.
The Four Continents Tournament is held in Single Distances and Team Events format.
Men's Team Pursuit raceduring the 2021 ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. @ ISU
ISU European Speed Skating Championships in Hamar (NOR)
The first four ISU World Cup Speed Skating events are qualifying events for the ISU European Speed Skating Championships 2023 (Allround & Sprint combinations) taking place in Hamar (NOR) on January 6-8, 2023. At the 2021 European Championships in Heerenveen (NED), Dutch Skaters took all available titles with Patrick Roest and Antoinette de Jong on top of the Allround podiums, while Thomas Krol and Jutta Leerdam took the Sprint titles.
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Patrick Roest, Antoinette de Jong, Jutta Leerdam and Thomas Krol (NED) pose as overall winners during the 2021 ISU European Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands.@ ISU
Building up to the climax
After the European Championships, the long track season builds up towards the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen (NED), with the last two World Cup legs in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) in February. All six World Cups weigh equally in qualifying for this pinnacle event.
Entry quotas for the World Championships are based on the so-called Special Qualification Ranking List (SQRL), which is a combination of two rankings. The first ranking is based on points earned in all six World Cup events and the second on best times skated in these qualifying events. To make the World Cup races count more in the qualification process, the Speed Skating Technical Commission shifted the balance to increase the number of entries based on ranking, decreasing the number of slots based on time.
In the past, in the Short Distances (up to 1500m), 14 out of 24 entries were based on ranking and 10 on time. This season it will be 18 based on ranking and 6 based on time. In the Women’s 3000m and the Men’s 5000m, it used to be 12 based on ranking and 8 based on time and this season it will be 16 and 4. The longest distances used to have 6 entries of 12 based on ranking, which has changed to 8 based on ranking and 4 on time. Finally, for the Team competitions it used to be 6 based on ranking and 2 on time and this season it changes to 7 and 1.
New blood
While we don’t know what the long season holds in store, we do know that the World Champions will stage some new names on top of the international podium. Swedish long distance phenomenon Nils van der Poel (SWE) hang up his blades after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
Nils van der Poel (SWE) during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final in Heerenveen, Netherlands.@ ISU
Dutch legends Ireen Wüst and Sven Kramer also quit after the past season, and Japan’s sprinting queen Nao Kodaira ended her Speed Skating career in style taking a final Japanese 500m title at the Japanese Single Distance Championships in Nagano (JPN) last October (read here).
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