Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, short-track speedskating, inline speedskating, and quad speed skating are also called speed skating.
Competitive speed skater (Shannon Rempel 2007)
Jaap Eden, the first official world champion
A skater in full body-covering suit
The long-track Olympic Oval in Calgary. Two hockey rinks fit inside the long-track rink.
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of competitive ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating".
Paulien van Deutekom, Thialf, 2007
Long track speed skating, Thialf, 2008
Individual start
Speed skating on a stamp