List of world records in speed skating facts for kids

This list of speed skating records is an overview of the records currently held in various speed skating events, as ratified by the International Skating Union.

World record progression

World records

Men

Event	Name	Country	Time	Date	Place	Average speed	Meeting	Ref
500 meters Progression	Pavel Kulizhnikov	Russia	33.61	9 March 2019	Salt Lake City	53.56 km/h (33.28 mph)	2018–19 World Cup Final
500 meters × 2	Jeremy Wotherspoon	Canada	1:08.31	15 March 2008	Calgary	52.70 km/h (32.75 mph)	Olympic Oval Finale 2008
1000 meters Progression	Jordan Stolz	United States	1:05.37	26 January 2024	Salt Lake City	55.38 km/h (34.41 mph)	2023–24 World Cup
1500 meters Progression	Kjeld Nuis	Netherlands	1:40.17	10 March 2019	Salt Lake City	53.91 km/h (33.50 mph)	2018–19 World Cup Final
3000 meters * Progression	Eskil Ervik	Norway	3:37.28	5 November 2005	Calgary	49.71 km/h (30.89 mph)	Olympic Oval Invitational 2005
5000 meters Progression	Nils van der Poel	Sweden	6:01.56	3 December 2021	Salt Lake City	49.78 km/h (30.93 mph)	2021–22 World Cup
10000 meters Progression	Nils van der Poel	Sweden	12:30.74	11 February 2022	Beijing	47.95 km/h (29.79 mph)	2022 Winter Olympics
Team sprint (3 laps)	Vincent De Haître Gilmore Junio Laurent Dubreuil	Canada	1:17.31	1 December 2017	Calgary		2017–18 World Cup
Team pursuit (8 laps) ** Progression	Casey Dawson Emery Lehman Ethan Cepuran	United States	3:33.66	27 January 2024	Salt Lake City	52.21 km/h (32.44 mph)	2023–24 World Cup
Sprint combination	Kai Verbij	Netherlands	136.065 pts	25–26 February 2017	Calgary		2017 World Sprint Championships
Small combination	Erben Wennemars	Netherlands	146.365 pts	12–13 August 2005	Calgary		Summer Classic 2005
Big combination Progression	Patrick Roest	Netherlands	145.561 pts	2–3 March 2019	Calgary		2019 World Allround Championships
One hour ***	Erik Jan Kooiman [nl]	Netherlands	43,735.94 m	9 December 2015	Inzell	43.73 km/h (27.17 mph)

• * Seven skaters have a recorded a 3000m time below this world record on this irregularly competed distance, including Denis Yuskov, who recorded a 3000m time of 3:34.37 during a training race held on 2 November 2013. However, the race had a so-called 'quartet-start' (four riders on the track at the same time as opposed to the usual two), making it ineligible to be counted as a world record under Article 221(2)(i) of the rules of the International Skating Union. Several skaters have recorded 3000m split times below 3:37.28 during a 5000m race, including Sven Kramer as early as November 17, 2007, but split times do not count as world records either.
• ** The average speed for the team pursuit race was calculated using a distance of 3098,88 meters for the men's race. The skaters only utilize the inner lane and the lap distance is accordingly less than the 400 meters of a regular lap skated with one inner curve and one outer curve. For comparison, the fastest known 400m lap was skated by Pavel Kulizhnikov on 9 March 2019 in Salt Lake City during his 500-meter world record race, with a lap time of 23.94 seconds and an average speed of 60.15 km/h (37.38 mph).
• *** unofficial world best (not recognized as a world record by ISU)

Women

Event	Name	Country	Time	Date	Place	Average speed	Meeting	Ref
500 meters Progression	Lee Sang-hwa	South Korea	36.36	16 November 2013	Salt Lake City	49.50 km/h (30.76 mph)	2013–14 World Cup
500 meters × 2	Heather Richardson	United States	1:14.19	28 December 2013	Salt Lake City	48.95 km/h (30.42 mph)	2017 World U.S. Olympic Trials
1000 meters Progression	Brittany Bowe	United States	1:11.61	9 March 2019	Salt Lake City	50.27 km/h (31.24 mph)	2018–19 World Cup Final
1500 meters Progression	Miho Takagi	Japan	1:49.83	10 March 2019	Salt Lake City	49.17 km/h (30.55 mph)	2018–19 World Cup Final
3000 meters Progression	Martina Sáblíková	Czech Republic	3:52.02	9 March 2019	Salt Lake City	46.55 km/h (28.92 mph)	2018–19 World Cup Final
5000 meters Progression	Natalya Voronina	Russia	6:39.02	15 February 2020	Salt Lake City	45.11 km/h (28.03 mph)	2020 World Single Distances Championships
10,000 meters *** Progression	Martina Sáblíková	Czech Republic	13:48.33	15 March 2007	Calgary	43.46 km/h (27.00 mph)	Olympic Oval Finale 2007
Team sprint (3 laps)	Femke Kok Jutta Leerdam Letitia de Jong	Netherlands	1:24.02	13 February 2020	Salt Lake City		2020 World Single Distances Championships
Team pursuit (6 laps) ** Progression	Nana Takagi Ayano Sato Miho Takagi	Japan	2:50.76	14 February 2020	Salt Lake City	49.00 km/h (30.45 mph)	2020 World Single Distances Championships
Sprint combination	Nao Kodaira	Japan	146.390 pts	25–26 February 2017	Calgary		2017 World Sprint Championships
Mini combination	Joy Beune	Netherlands	153.776 pts	9–10 March 2018	Salt Lake City		2018 World Junior Championships
Small combination	Cindy Klassen	Canada	154.580 pts	18–19 March 2006	Calgary		2006 World Allround Championships
One hour ***	Carien Kleibeuker	Netherlands	40,569.56 m	9 December 2015	Inzell	40.57 km/h (25.21 mph)

• ** The average speed for the team pursuit race was calculated using a distance of 2324,16 meters for the women's race. The skaters only utilize the inner lane and the lap distance is accordingly less than the 400 meters of a regular lap skated with one inner curve and one outer curve. For comparison, the fastest known 400m lap was skated by Zhang Hong during a 500m race in Salt Lake City on 20 November 2015, with a lap time of 25.93 seconds and an average speed of 55.51 km/h (34.49 mph).
• *** unofficial world best (not recognized as a world record by ISU)

Mixed

Event	Name	Country	Time	Date	Place	Average speed	Meeting	Ref
Mixed Gender Relay	Sun Chuanyi Jin Wenjing	China	2:54.90	28 January 2024	Salt Lake City		2023–24 World Cup

Sea-level world bests

Salt Lake City and Calgary, where most of the current world records were set (see above), are at comparatively high altitudes (greater than 1 km above sea level). Performance is better at these high altitudes because the lower oxygen levels are compensated by the reduced air resistance. Skating statisticians therefore record separate lists of "sea-level world bests" for speed skating records that are set at (or close to) sea level, from which results in Salt Lake City and Calgary are excluded.

Men

Event	Name	Country	Time	Date	Place	Meeting	Ref
500 meters	Tatsuya Shinhama	Japan	34.07	8 March 2020	Heerenveen	2019–20 World Cup
500 meters × 2	Pavel Kulizhnikov	Russia	68.931	15 February 2015	Heerenveen	2015 World Single Distances Championships
1000 meters	Pavel Kulizhnikov	Russia	1:07.09	12 January 2020	Heerenveen	2020 European Championships
1500 meters	Jordan Stolz	United States	1:42.31	27 October 2023	Milwaukee	2024 US Championships
3000 meters	Sven Kramer	Netherlands	3:37.39	20 December 2019	Heerenveen
5000 meters	Patrick Roest	Netherlands	6:04.36	19 November 2022	Heerenveen	2022–23 World Cup
10000 meters	Nils van der Poel	Sweden	12:30.74	11 February 2022	Beijing	2022 Winter Olympics
Team sprint (3 laps)	Pavel Kulizhnikov Ruslan Murashov Viktor Mushtakov	Russia	1:18.92	10 January 2020	Heerenveen	2020 European Championships
Team pursuit (8 laps)	Sander Eitrem Peder Kongshaug Sverre Lunde Pedersen	Norway	3:34.22	5 January 2024	Heerenveen	2024 European Championships
Sprint combination	Pavel Kulizhnikov	Russia	137.390 pts	23–24 February 2019	Heerenveen	2019 World Sprint Championships
Small combination	Koen Verweij	Netherlands	148.517 pts	12–13 March 2010	Moscow	2010 World Junior Championships
Big combination	Patrick Roest	Netherlands	146.060 pts	27–28 December 2022	Heerenveen	2023 Dutch Allround Championships

Women

Event	Name	Country	Time	Date	Place	Meeting	Ref
500 meters	Nao Kodaira	Japan	36.94	18 February 2018	Gangneung	2018 Winter Olympics
500 meters × 2	Femke Kok	Netherlands	74.44	27 December 2020	Heerenveen	Dutch Qualification Tournament
1000 meters	Jutta Leerdam	Netherlands	1:12.80	28 December 2022	Heerenveen	2023 Dutch Sprint Championships
1500 meters	Miho Takagi	Japan	1:52.78	13 February 2021	Nagano	2020/2021 All Japan Selected Nagano Tournament
3000 meters	Irene Schouten	Netherlands	3:54.04	20 November 2022	Heerenveen	2022–23 World Cup
5000 meters	Irene Schouten	Netherlands	6:41.25	5 March 2023	Heerenveen	2023 World Single Distances Championships
Team sprint (3 laps)	Olga Fatkulina Angelina Golikova Daria Kachanova	Russia	1:26.17	10 January 2020	Heerenveen	2020 European Championships
Team pursuit (6 laps)	Ivanie Blondin Valérie Maltais Isabelle Weidemann	Canada	2:53.44	15 February 2022	Beijing	2022 Winter Olympics
Sprint combination	Jutta Leerdam	Netherlands	147.135 pts	27–28 December 2022	Heerenveen	2023 Dutch Sprint Championships
Mini combination	Cindy Klassen	Canada	157.950 pts	15–17 November 2002	Erfurt	2002–03 World Cup
Small combination	Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong	Netherlands	157.859 pts	27–28 December 2022	Heerenveen	2023 Dutch Allround Championships