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THE WORLD OF ICE SPEED SKATING
An American journalist compared the 1980 Winter Olympics' Ice Speed Skating events to "watching a record player turn, without hearing the music". On the opposit, the Norwegian philosopher Stein Erik Johansen wrote, in his Essay on the Metaphysical Aspects of Ice Speed Skating, about Speed Skating as the making of a Spiral on the ice covered Oval, combining these two ancient symbols into one, ultimate symbol.
The sport of Ice Speed Skating was developed, and separated from figure skating, mainly in the Netherlands, Norway and Germany during the 19th Century. At the turn of the Century, the sport was established, more or less, as we know it today. The rink is a 400 meters oval, similar to the one used in summer athletics, but there are only two tracks, with a crossing field that allowes the skaters to change tracks to even out the difference of inner and outer curve. The skaters run two by two, but compete against the clock more than against each other, as they're ranked by the minutes and seconds, not by winning or losing the heat. Therefor, the World of Ice Speed Skating is also a world of figures!
In the traditional Championships each race result is divided into average time per 500 meters, and the winner of the laurels is the skater with the lowest sum of average time points in four distances. It's therefor possible to win the Championship without winning a single distance, or even without beating any of the heat partners (though the latter has probably never happened). The Single Distance Championship was introdused with the first Winter Olympics in 1924, but the annual Single Distance World Championship is arranged for the first time this winter.
Since the 1890's the official Ice Speed Skating distances, used in the Championships,
was 500, 1500, 5000 and 10000 meters. 1000 and 3000 meters were additional
distances, not commonly used until the women joined the sport in the 1930's. During
the 80's and 90's shorter sprint distances are tried out, especially in the Netherlands.
The Dutchmen also introduced the Marathon races. But still, today the Women's Junior
Championships' distances are 500, 1500, 1000 and 3000 meters, the Men's Junior and
Women's Allround Championships' distances 500, 3000, 1500 and 5000 meters, and
the Men's Allround Championships' distances 500, 5000, 1500 and 10000 meters. In
the Sprint Championships (introduced in 1970) the distances are 500, 1000, 500 and
1000 meters for both sexes. The Olympic and Single Distance Championships'
distances are the five Senior Championships' distances for each sex.
The leading Ice Speed Skating Nation at the moment are the Netherlands, with Japan
as a runner up. Old Giants like Norway, USA and Russia (and other ex-USSR states)
still have their moments, while Finland is far from old strength. Last year's male
Sprint Champion was a South Korean, and skaters from Germany, Sweden, Canada,
China, Italy, Austria and Poland joins the World Top from time to time. Not to mention
Australia, Great Britain, France, and even Switzerland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and
North Korea. And Latvia and Hungary have got their old Champions of the 30's and 40's.
While Country Matches and 4 distances combination races was the main international
Speed Skating events until the mid 80's, the World Cup with single distance races
now dominates the scene. There are four separate World Cups; 500, 1000 and 1500
meters, and long distances (3000/5000 meters for women, and 5000/10000 meters
for men). Though the allrounders no longer matches the sprinters in the shortest
distance, the fast ones still cope in 1000 meters. And there are few long distance
specialists who beats the best allrounders in 10000 meters. But more single distance
specialists may be the result of this development.