The US has the most gold medals in speed skating at the Olympics but the US has struggled some in recent years, especially on the women’s side. Can an experienced team for the US top the four medals from Vancouver or will the medal count continue to fall off?
Speed Skating’s Olympic History
Speed skating made its Olympic debut at the very first Winter Olympics in 1924, but it nearly began earlier than that. In 1916 speed skating was on the program for the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Unfortunately those Olympics were cancelled because of World War I and speed skating had to wait eight more years for its Olympic debut. Speed skating began with five men’s events, just one less than there is today, and four of the original events are still contested today. Women’s speed skating was a demonstration sport in Lake Placid in 1932 but didn’t become an Olympic sport until 1960 when it had just as many events as men’s speed skating. For a few Olympics there was one more men’s event than women’s, but the number has been balanced since 1988 and today there are six events for men and for women.
Two countries, the Netherlands (82) and Norway (80) have more medals than the 67 won by the US. No country though has more golds than the US with 29. The Netherlands are close behind with 27 while Norway has 25. There have been medals won by 23 different countries with 17 countries winning a gold medal.
How the Speed Skating Competitions Work
While there are a lot of events in speed skating there isn’t a lot of difference between the events other than distance. The individual races involve the athletes doing 400m laps around the rink enough times to cover the distance. Two athletes will go at a time with an inner and outer lane. Since the inside lane is shorter than the outside lane the athletes have to swap lanes after each lap so that they each cover the same distance. The only exception is the 500m races. 500m is not much longer than the track’s 400m length so it’s not possible for each athlete to do a lap on each lane. To overcome this each athlete will skate two races with their second race in the opposite lane as what they used in the first. The combined time from the two races determines the final standings.
The only event not done with this format is the team pursuit events. In the team pursuit events teams of three skaters will take to the ice in head-to-head competition. Whichever team finishes first moves on. The skaters will alternate leading their team as the leader will face the most air resistance. The team’s time is based on when their final skater crosses the finish line. The two teams both start at the same time on opposite ends of the track so there’s no need for an inside and outside lane.
US Team
The team is made up of nine men and eight women. Nine of the 17 athletes were on the team in Vancouver while three of them were also on the team in Turin.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
US Speed Skating
Men:
Shani Davis** – 500m, 1000m, 1500m
Tucker Fredricks** – 500m
Jonathan Garcia – 1000m
Brian Hansen* – 500m, 1000m, 1500m, team pursuit
Jonathan Kuck* – 1500m, 5000m, team pursuit
Emery Lehman – 5000m, 10000m
Joey Mantia – 1000m, 1500m
Patrick Meek – 5000m
Mitchell Whitmore* – 500m
Women:
Brittany Bowe – 500m, 1000m, 1500m, team pursuit
Lauren Cholewinski* – 500m
Kelly Gunther – 1000m
Maria Lamb** – 5000m
Heather Richardson* – 500m, 1000m, 1500m, team pursuit
Anna Ringsred – 3000m
Jilleanne Rookard* – 1500m, 3000m, team pursuit
Sugar Todd – 500m, 1000m
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
A Sochi 2014 Speed Skating list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
Shani Davis was one of the US stars in Vancouver. Davis competed in four events and had some success and some disappointment. In the first 500m race Davis came in 18th and was too far behind to be in medal contention. There were some issues with the ice so the event had some delays and he choose to pull out of the event since he was out of contention. In the 1000m race Davis took home the gold medal while he grabbed a silver in the 1500m race. Davis also competed in the 5000m race where he ended up 12th. Davis took home the same combination of medals in Turin, and from the same races! A gold in the 1000m and a silver in the 1500m. Davis also competed in the 5000m race and came in seventh.
Tucker Fredricks competed in just one event for the US in Vancouver, the 500m. In the first race he ended up 15th but posted a strong ninth best time in race two to end up 12th overall. Fredricks competed in the same event for the US in Turin. Fredricks was 25th after the first run and ended up 25th in the end.
Vancouver saw the Olympic debut of Brian Hansen, but he competed in just one individual event, the 1500m, where he finished 18th. Hansen’s best moments came though as part of the team pursuit team that beat Japan and the Netherlands before falling to Canada in the final and taking home a silver. Hansen took part in the races against the Netherlands and Canada.
Jonathan Kuck’s Olympic debut in Vancouver was much like that of Hansen. Kuck was also part of the silver medal winning team pursuit team and was part of the three-man team for all three races. Kuck also competed in the 10000m race where he finished eighth.
Another first-time Olympian in Vancouver was Mitchell Whitmore. Whitmore competed in only the 500m event for the US finishing in 39th in race one and 34th in race two for a 37th overall finish.
Lauren Cholewinski also debuted at the Olympics in 2010. Much like Whitmore she competed only in the 500m event and finished 29th in race one and 32nd in race two for a 30th overall finish.
Maria Lamb came to Vancouver with some experience and competed for the US in the 5000m event. She finished in 15th. In Turin she had skated the 1500m event where she finished 27th and took part in the team pursuit event. Lamb competed for each race for a US team that lost their quarterfinal to Canada and lost the fifth place final to the Netherlands to end up sixth.
Heather Richardson took part in three events for the US in Vancouver. She made a good run at a medal in her first Olympics as she finished sixth in the 500m event, ninth in the 1000m event, and 16th in the 1500m event.
The final skater who debuted in Vancouver was Jileanne Rookard. Rookard competed in three individual events for the US and had her best finish (eight) in the 5000m event. She finished 12th in the 3000m event and 24th in the 1500m event. Rookard was also part of the team pursuit event and was part of the US team in all three races they had. The US shocked Canada in the quarterfinals but lost to Germany in the semifinals and missed out on a bronze when they lost to Poland in the 3rd place final.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Saturday, February 8th
*6:30 AM – Men’s 5000m
Sunday, February 9th
*6:30 AM – Ladies’ 3000m
Monday, February 10th
8 AM – Men’s 500m Race 1 of 2
*9:55 AM – Men’s 500m Race 2 of 2
Tuesday, February 11th
7:45 AM – Ladies’ 500m Race 1 of 2
*9:34 AM – Ladies’ 500m Race 2 of 2
Wednesday, February 12th
*9 AM – Men’s 1000m
Thursday, February 13th
*9 AM – Ladies’ 1000m
Saturday, February 15th
*8:30 AM – Men’s 1500m
Sunday, February 16th
*9 AM – Ladies’ 1500m
Tuesday, February 18th
*8 AM – Men’s 10000m
Wednesday, February 19th
*8:30 AM – Ladies’ 5000m
Friday, February 21st
8:30 AM – Men’s Team Pursuit Quarterfinals
9:23 AM – Ladies’ Team Pursuit Quarterfinals
10:12 AM – Men’s Team Pursuit Semifinals
Saturday, February 22nd
8:30 AM – Ladies’ Team Pursuit Semifinals
*8:51 AM – Men’s Team Pursuit Finals
*9:14 AM – Ladies’ Team Pursuit Finals
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The latest Speed Skating world championship, the 2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championship, was held in Sochi in March 2013.
Mitchell Whitmore and Tucker Fredricks both competed for the US in the men’s 500m event. They finished the first race in 24th and 22nd and then went 23rd and 24th in the second race to finish 23rd and 24th in the 24 athlete field.
In the 1000m event Shani Davis, Mitchell Whitmore, and Brian Hansen all competed. Whitmore, who isn’t going to be competing in the 1000m in the Olympics, wound up 22nd while Brian Hansen was ninth and within 0.77 seconds of the winner. Shani Davis nearly took home the gold but came up 0.16 seconds short and won the bronze.
In the 1500m event three Americans who will be competing in the Olympics, Shani Davis, Brian Hansen, and Jonathan Kuck, all took part. Kuck was the furthest away from the top in 22nd while Brian Hansen came very close to a bronze. Hansen finished in fourth 0.43 seconds away from a medal. Shani Davis again came up just short, this time 0.51 seconds, and took home a silver.
Jonathan Kuck and Emery Lehman both took part in the 5000m for the US. Kuck was the top American in the field with a 12th place finish while Lehman ended up 20th.
Kuck also took part in the 10000m event, though he won’t be racing that event in the Olympics. Kuck ended up 12th out of 14 competitors.
On the women’s side Heather Richardson, Brittany Bowe, and Lauren Cholewinski were all part of the 500m event. Cholewinski (20th) and Bowe (14th) were out of medal contention after race one while Richardson’s sixth place finish left her in the mix. Cholewinski finished race two in 22nd and split the difference to finish 21st overall while Bowe was 14th again and ended up 14th. Richardson had a slower time in race two on the inside track and was tenth in race two. That left her in 8th place overall.
Heather Richardson improved on that finish in the 1000m event where she ended up eight while Anna Ringsred, who won’t compete in the 1000m at the Olympics, ended up in 21st. The big story though was Brittany Bowe who was impressive for the US taking home the bronze and finishing 0.43 seconds away from the winner.
Anna Ringsred, who will be competing for the US in only the 3000m event in the Olympics, was the only US athlete in the 1500m event where she finished last in the 18 athlete field.
Maria Lamb competed for the US in the 5000m event and ended up 11th but just eight seconds behind fourth place.
US Olympic History
In Salt Lake City US took home eight speed skating medals. It was their largest haul since 1980. They nearly matched that in Turin when they took home seven medals, their third most all-time. Vancouver didn’t go quite as well as the US took home just four medals but when you consider the US never won more than three from 1984 through 1998 it’s not so bad!
In the men’s 500m event the US has taken home 16 medals and won golds in 2002 in 2006, but they didn’t finish in the top ten in Vancouver with Tucker Fredricks the top American in 12th.
The 1000m event has been an US specialty with half of the ten gold medals going to the US. Shani Davis is the two-time defending champion in this event, the US has won multiple medals in back-to-back Olympics and the US has now medaled in three straight Olympics.
After only winning three medals in the first 18 1500m Olympic events the US has now won four medals in the last three Olympics and has won silver or better in all three. Shani Davis is the two-time defending silver medalist.
The 5000m event has been another tough one for the US before a silver in Salt Lake City and a gold in Turin. In Vancouver three Americans were in the top 15, but none finished higher than 11th (Chad Hedrick).
A similar story can be told of the 10000m event where the US has only medaled once since 1980, a silver by Chad Hedrick in Turin. Vancouver’s best was Jonathan Kuck who finished eighth.
Team pursuit has only been held twice and the US got their first medal, a silver, in Vancouver. Two of the members of that team, Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck, are back in Sochi.
On the women’s side the US medaled ten times in the first ten 500m events including half of the gold medals. Since Bonnie Blair won her 3rd gold in a row in 1994 the US has been held off the medal stand altogether. Heather Richardson came close in 2010 with a sixth place finish and will look to get a medal this time.
The US medaled in the 1000m event in nine of the ten Olympics from 1968 to 2002. Since then, nothing. In Vancouver Jennifer Rodriguez was the closest to getting there with a seventh place finish.
After a medal drought from 1976 to 1998 in the 1500m event the US had bronze medalists in Nagano and Salt Lake City. Since then though, again no medals for the US. No US athletes were in the top 15 in Vancouver with Heather Richardson the closest in 16th.
The 3000m event has only seen US medalists twice and the most recent was Beth Heiden in 1980. Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. came closest in Vancouver with a ninth place finish but the US is still staring at a 34 year medal drought in this event.
The 5000m event has been held seven times but the US has never medaled. Jilleanne Rookard was the top US athlete in Vancouver finishing in 8th.
The team pursuit event has been held twice with no medals so far for the US. In 2010 the US reached the semifinals before two straight losses left them in 4th. Jilleanne Rookard is the only member of this team back for 2014.
