ISU

Ragne Wiklund (NOR) shows us a day in her life at the ISU World Speed Skating Championships 2023 in Heerenveen (NED), where she clinched the World 3000m title. The newly crowned world champion tells us about her special ritual: writing a message to her coach on her accreditation.

The International Skating Union is up 8 places to a top 10 overall position driven by a rise in fan growth and engagements following the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate and recognize achievements of women in the Ice Skating world. In the following lines, we will focus on four women coaches who are paving the way for future generations.

On December 4, 2022, the International Skating Union (ISU) together with a variety of partners, national federations and skating clubs from all over the globe celebrated the first ever World Ice Skating Day (WISD). This inaugural edition was a success with events organized in 47 countries and at 170 ice rinks worldwide (read here). To boost a competitive spirit amongst the WISD organizers, the ISU announced the “Best WISD 2022” contest, which aims at rewarding the most successful WISD actions based on a list of specific criteria and targets (read here). Among the 25 nominees shortlisted for the 2022 Awards, the ISU is delighted to announce Indonesia (Federasi Ice Skating Indonesia) as winner of the Best WISD 2022 in the 500+ attending participants category, together with Mexico for the category involving less than 500 participants. The Ice Academy of Montreal (CAN) won the Best #WISDance category, awarding the most creative WISD signature choreography.

“I guess I wrote some history,” Jordan Stolz (USA) commented modestly, and he had indeed. Already the youngest ever World Single Distance Champion after winning both the 500m and 1000m, the American sealed an historic hattrick on the final day in Heerenveen with victory in the 1500m. It makes the 18-year-old the first skater in World Single Distance Championship history to win three individual distances. Another milestone winner rounded off the Men’s competition, as Davide Ghiotto became Italy’s first-ever World Single Distance Champion with gold in the 10,000m.   

Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (NED) and Irene Schouten (NED) took the last two women’s titles at the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen on Sunday, but Ragne Wiklund (NOR) left the competition as the most decorated female skater. The Norwegian 3000m champion claimed silver behind both Rijpma-De Jong in the 1500m and Schouten in the 5000m. Martina Sáblíková (CZE) won her 18th World Single Distance medal with bronze in the 5000m. Only the recently retired Dutch legend Sven Kramer (21) has won more.

Jordan Stolz (USA) is so far unstoppable in Heerenveen. After becoming the youngest ever World Single Distance champion in the 500m on Friday, the 18-year-old added the 1000m title to his tally at Thialf Stadium on Saturday. Olympic Champion Thomas Krol (NED) had to settle for silver, while Cornelius Kersten claimed Great Britain’s first international speed skating silverware since 1951 with bronze. More history was made by European and Olympic Champion Bart Swings (BEL), who became Belgium’s first-ever World Champion by winning the Men’s Mass Start to complete his list of honors.

After winning all eight of her 1000m races this season, Jutta Leerdam (NED) was feeling the pressure at the start of the World Championships 1000m final on Saturday in Heerenveen. But one minute and 13.03 seconds later, she celebrated in relief. Leerdam crushed the field leaving silver medalist Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (NED) 1.23 adrift. Olympic Champion Miho Takagi (JPN) took bronze. In the Mass Start Marijke Groenewoud (NED) retained her World title with an impressive ten-lap solo, finishing almost 15 seconds ahead of the pack.

Femke Kok (NED) wrote her name into Netherlands speed skating history on Friday, becoming the first-ever Dutchwoman to win the 500m title at the World Single Distance Championships. She also gave the home crowd in Heerenveen reason to celebrate after a heartbreaking disqualification for the Dutch Team Pursuit women earlier in the evening. Canada were upgraded in their place from silver to gold.  

“Otherworldly,” was how Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) described Jordan Stolz (USA) in Heerenveen on Friday. The 18-year-old Junior All-Round World Champion crushed the senior field in the 500m by a margin of 0.36 at the World Single Distance Championships to become the youngest ever senior World Champion. World Cup winner Dubreuil himself had to settle for silver, while Wataru Morishige (JPN) took bronze. 

Patrick Roest (NED) was so tired that he had to take a chair and sit down while he was interviewed in the mixed zone, but he had done it. After winning three silver medals, a bronze and a Team Pursuit gold at previous World Single Distance Championships, the Dutchman finally brought home his first individual World title in the 5000m in Heerenveen on Thursday. Not only that, but his win made history for Netherlands on home ice as the nation’s 100th World Single Distance gold. 

It was the first time she started as the outright favorite in a World Championships race, and Ragne Wiklund (NOR) lived up to expectations. The Norwegian long distance World Cup winner beat Olympic Champion Irene Schouten (NED) in the 3000m at the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen on Thursday. Schouten came second and Martina Sáblíková (CZE) took bronze. Canada concluded the Women’s competition on the opening day with gold in the Team Sprint.

After rounding up the World Cup Series in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (POL) two weeks ago, the international Speed Skating elite is getting ready for the season’s climax at the World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen (NED) this weekend. World Cup winners hope to confirm their status, while others are looking for revenge. The Dutch skaters hope to celebrate an historic hundredth World Single Distance title on home ice in the legendary Thialf stadium.  

They are about the same age and they both skate the 500m under 34 seconds, but they speak different languages and they were born 9,480 kilometers apart. Yet 500m World Cup leader Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) and runner-up Yuma Murakami (JPN) found each other in their passion for Speed Skating. Training together in Quebec for seven weeks last summer, helped them to become better skaters, and better friends.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA's) disciplinary tribunal rendered a decision in the case of Russian Figure Skater, Kamila Valieva, finding that although the athlete had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it. As such, the tribunal imposed no sanction except for the disqualification of her results at the Russian Figure Skating Championship in Saint-Petersburg in December 2021.