World Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Men

The International Skating Union has organised the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Men since 1970. The first two years (1970–1971), they were called the ISU Sprint Championships.

Countries that have won the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.

History

Distances used

  • Since 1970, four distances are skated: 500 m, 1000 m, 500 m and 1000 m (the sprint combination).
  • In 2022, team sprint event has been held as well.

Ranking systems used

  • Since 1970, the samalog system has been in use. However, the rule that a skater winning at least three distances was automatically World Champion remained in effect until (and including) 1986.

Records

  • Igor Zhelezovski has won a total of six World Championships while representing the Soviet Union (four times in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991), the Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS (once in 1992) and Belarus (once in 1994).
  • Jeremy Wotherspoon from Canada has a record 9 medals, 8 of which were won in consecutive championships (1998–2005) – four golds (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003), four silvers (1998, 2004, 2005, 2008) and one bronze (2001).
  • Eric Heiden from the United States has won four consecutive world championships, in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.
  • The youngest World Sprint Champion is Eric Heiden from the United States who won his first of four world sprint titles in 1977 at age 18.
  • The oldest World Sprint Champion is Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea who won his fourth and last world sprint title in 2011 at age 32.
  • There are three skaters who co-hold record by number of participations in the championships (15 times) – Gerard van Velde from Netherlands (in 1991–2007), Hiroyasu Shimizu from Japan (in 1993–2007) and Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea (in 1998–2014).
  • The biggest point margin between the winner and the second placed skater at the end of competition is 3.050 points between Eric Heiden from the United States and Frode Rønning from Norway in 1978.
  • The smallest winning margin between the champion and the runner-up is 0.010 points between Gaétan Boucher from Canada and Sergey Khlebnikov from the Soviet Union in 1984.
  • There are two speed skaters who become World Sprint Champions by winning all four distances at the championships – Eric Heiden from the United States (1979) and Igor Zhelezovski who represented the Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS (1992).
  • Manabu Horii from Japan is the only skater who won three of four distances at the championships but failed to win world title (1997). Due to fall, he finished only 33rd at first distance (500 m) and in overall point classification.
  • By contrast, there are 8 speed skaters who become World Sprint Champions without winning any of four distances – Valery Muratov from the Soviet Union (1970), Johan Granath from Sweden (1976), Akira Kuroiwa from Japan (1987), Bae Ki-tae from South Korea (1990), Mike Ireland from Canada (2001), Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea (2007), Michel Mulder from Netherlands (2013) and Kai Verbij from Netherlands (2017).
  • Eric Heiden and Shani Davis (both from the United States) are only men's speed skaters who become champions both at the World Sprint and the World Allround Championships. Heiden won three World Allround Championships in 1977–1979 and four World Sprint Championships in 1977–1980. He remained the only men's speed skater who win both championships in one calendar year by firstly achieving this feat in 1977 and then repeating this success in 1978 and 1979. Shani Davis is the only men's speed skater who won world titles at three different championships – World Allround Championships (2005 and 2006), World Sprint Championships (2009) and World Single Distances Championships (8 gold medals in 2004–2015).

Medal winners

Sprint combination

Year Venue Gold Silver Bronze
1970 West Allis Soviet Union Valery Muratov Japan Keiichi Suzuki Norway Magne Thomassen
1971 Inzell West Germany Erhard Keller Sweden Ove König Netherlands Ard Schenk
1972 Eskilstuna Finland Leo Linkovesi Soviet Union Valery Muratov Netherlands Ard Schenk
1973 Oslo Soviet Union Valery Muratov (2) Netherlands Jos Valentijn Netherlands Eppie Bleeker
1974 Innsbruck Norway Per Bjørang Japan Masaki Suzuki Netherlands Eppie Bleeker
1975 Gothenburg Soviet Union Aleksandr Safronov Soviet Union Yevgeny Kulikov Soviet Union Valery Muratov
1976 West Berlin Sweden Johan Granath United States Dan Immerfall United States Peter Mueller
1977 Alkmaar United States Eric Heiden United States Peter Mueller Soviet Union Yevgeny Kulikov
1978 Lake Placid United States Eric Heiden Norway Frode Rønning Sweden Johan Granath
1979 Inzell United States Eric Heiden Canada Gaétan Boucher Norway Frode Rønning
1980 West Allis United States Eric Heiden (4) Canada Gaétan Boucher United States Tom Plant
1981 Grenoble Norway Frode Rønning Soviet Union Sergey Khlebnikov Soviet Union Anatoly Medennikov
1982 Alkmaar Soviet Union Sergey Khlebnikov Canada Gaétan Boucher Norway Frode Rønning
1983 Helsinki Japan Akira Kuroiwa Soviet Union Pavel Pegov Netherlands Hilbert van der Duim
1984 Trondheim Canada Gaétan Boucher Soviet Union Sergey Khlebnikov Norway Kai Arne Engelstad
1985 Heerenveen Soviet Union Igor Zhelezovski Canada Gaétan Boucher United States Dan Jansen
1986 Karuizawa Soviet Union Igor Zhelezovski United States Dan Jansen Japan Akira Kuroiwa
1987 Sainte Foy Japan Akira Kuroiwa (2) United States Nick Thometz Japan Yukihiro Mitani
1988 West Allis United States Dan Jansen East Germany Uwe-Jens Mey United States Eric Flaim
1989 Heerenveen Soviet Union Igor Zhelezovski East Germany Uwe-Jens Mey Soviet Union Andrey Bakhvalov
1990 Tromsø South Korea Bae Ki-tae Soviet Union Andrey Bakhvalov Soviet Union Igor Zhelezovski
1991 Inzell Soviet Union Igor Zhelezovski Germany Uwe-Jens Mey Japan Toshiyuki Kuroiwa
1992 Oslo Commonwealth of Independent States Igor Zhelezovski United States Dan Jansen Japan Toshiyuki Kuroiwa
1993 Ikaho Belarus Igor Zhelezovski (6) Japan Yasunori Miyabe Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu
1994 Calgary United States Dan Jansen (2) Russia Sergey Klevchenya Japan Junichi Inoue
1995 Milwaukee South Korea Kim Yoon-man Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu Japan Yasunori Miyabe
1996 Heerenveen Russia Sergey Klevchenya Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu Japan Manabu Horii
1997 Hamar Russia Sergey Klevchenya (2) Norway Roger Strøm United States Casey FitzRandolph
1998 Berlin Netherlands Jan Bos Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon Netherlands Erben Wennemars
1999 Calgary Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon Netherlands Jan Bos Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu
2000 Seoul Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon Canada Mike Ireland Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu
2001 Inzell Canada Mike Ireland Japan Hiroyasu Shimizu Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon
2002 Hamar Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon United States Casey FitzRandolph Canada Mike Ireland
2003 Calgary Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon (4) Netherlands Gerard van Velde Netherlands Erben Wennemars
2004 Nagano Netherlands Erben Wennemars Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon Canada Mike Ireland
2005 Salt Lake City Netherlands Erben Wennemars (2) Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon United States Joey Cheek
2006 Heerenveen United States Joey Cheek Russia Dmitry Dorofeyev Netherlands Jan Bos
2007 Hamar South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk Finland Pekka Koskela United States Shani Davis
2008 Heerenveen South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon South Korea Mun Jun
2009 Moscow United States Shani Davis Japan Keiichiro Nagashima Netherlands Simon Kuipers
2010 Obihiro South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk South Korea Lee Kang-seok Japan Keiichiro Nagashima
2011 Heerenveen South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk (4) South Korea Mo Tae-bum United States Shani Davis
2012 Calgary Netherlands Stefan Groothuis South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk South Korea Mo Tae-bum
2013 Salt Lake City Netherlands Michel Mulder Finland Pekka Koskela Netherlands Hein Otterspeer
2014 Nagano Netherlands Michel Mulder (2) United States Shani Davis Australia Daniel Greig
2015 Astana Russia Pavel Kulizhnikov Netherlands Hein Otterspeer Russia Aleksey Yesin
2016 Seoul Russia Pavel Kulizhnikov Netherlands Kjeld Nuis Netherlands Kai Verbij
2017 Calgary Netherlands Kai Verbij Norway Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen Netherlands Kjeld Nuis
2018 Changchun Norway Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen Netherlands Kjeld Nuis Netherlands Kai Verbij
2019 Heerenveen Russia Pavel Kulizhnikov (3) Japan Tatsuya Shinhama Netherlands Kjeld Nuis
2020 Hamar Japan Tatsuya Shinhama Canada Laurent Dubreuil South Korea Cha Min-kyu
2022 Hamar Netherlands Thomas Krol Netherlands Kai Verbij Norway Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen
2024 Inzell China Ning Zhongyan Netherlands Jenning de Boo Canada Laurent Dubreuil

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Netherlands881430
2 United States87823
3 Soviet Union86519
4 Canada610420
5 South Korea63312
6 Russia5218
7 Japan381122
8 Norway33511
9 Finland1203
10 Sweden1113
11 Belarus1001
 CIS1001
 China1001
 West Germany1001
15 East Germany0202
16 Germany0101
17 Australia0011
Totals (17 entries)535353159

Team sprint

Year Venue Gold Silver Bronze
2022 Hamar  Norway
Bjørn Magnussen
Henrik Fagerli Rukke
Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen
 Poland
Marek Kania
Piotr Michalski
Damian Żurek
 Netherlands
Merijn Scheperkamp
Kai Verbij
Thomas Krol

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway1001
2 Poland0101
3 Netherlands0011
Totals (3 entries)1113

Combined medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Netherlands881531
2 United States87823
3 Soviet Union86519
4 Canada610420
5 South Korea63312
6 Russia5218
7 Norway43512
8 Japan381122
9 Finland1203
10 Sweden1113
11 Belarus1001
 CIS1001
 China1001
 West Germany1001
15 East Germany0202
16 Germany0101
 Poland0101
18 Australia0011
Totals (18 entries)545454162

World champions (sprint combination)

As of 2024.

Skater 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Total
Soviet Union/Commonwealth of Independent States/Belarus Igor Zhelezovski 6 0 1 7
Canada Jeremy Wotherspoon 4 4 1 9
South Korea Lee Kyou-hyuk 4 1 0 5
United States Eric Heiden 4 0 0 4
Russia Pavel Kulizhnikov 3 0 0 3
United States Dan Jansen 2 2 1 5
Soviet Union Valery Muratov 2 1 1 4
Russia Sergey Klevchenya 2 1 0 3
Netherlands Erben Wennemars 2 0 2 4
Japan Akira Kuroiwa 2 0 1 3
Netherlands Michel Mulder 2 0 0 2
Canada Gaétan Boucher 1 4 0 5
Soviet Union Sergey Khlebnikov 1 2 0 3
United States Shani Davis 1 1 2 4
Canada Mike Ireland 1 1 2 4
Norway Frode Rønning 1 1 2 4
Netherlands Kai Verbij 1 1 2 4
Netherlands Jan Bos 1 1 1 3
Norway Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen 1 1 1 3
Japan Tatsuya Shinhama 1 1 0 2
United States Joey Cheek 1 0 1 2
Sweden Johan Granath 1 0 1 2
South Korea Bae Ki-tae 1 0 0 1
Norway Per Bjørang 1 0 0 1
Netherlands Stefan Groothuis 1 0 0 1
West Germany Erhard Keller 1 0 0 1
South Korea Kim Yoon-man 1 0 0 1
Netherlands Thomas Krol 1 0 0 1
Finland Leo Linkovesi 1 0 0 1
China Ning Zhongyan 1 0 0 1
Soviet Union Aleksandr Safronov 1 0 0 1

See also

References

  • "Medal Winners in World Sprint Championships" (PDF). International Skating Union.
  • "World Sprint Speed Skating Championships Overview". International Skating Union.