Ruth Schleiermacher


Ruth Schleiermacher is a former East German speedskater. She took part in eight international championships. Twice at the European Championships, thrice at the World Allround Championships, once at the World Sprint Championships and two times at the Winter Olympics, [Speed skating at the Speed skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics|1968 Winter Olympics|1968] and [Speed skating at the Speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics|1972 Winter Olympics|1972].

Career

Schleiermacher was born in Wunsiedel, Bavaria. At her international debut during the Wch Allround of 1967 in Deventer she finished 27th. A year later, during the op het Wch Allround of 1968, she had improved to become 16th. Progress was such that the next year this had become the 4th place overall, while she won a silver distance medal on the 500m.
After a year of absence at the big tournaments, she returned next year, better than ever before. At the World Sprint Championships of 1971 in Inzell Schleiermacher wins her first and only international title, becoming the successor of Lyudmila Titova from the Soviet Union.

World records

Over the course of her career, Schleiermacher skated one official world record:
EventResultDateVenue
500 m44.64 February 1969Davos

Note that her best score on the sprint combination was skated before there was an official world record for that event. It was a world best performance at that time though.

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the column WR lists the official world records on the dates that Schleiermacher skated her personal records.
EventResultDateVenueWR
500 m43.1520 February 1971Inzell42.91
1000 m1:28.921 February 1971Inzell1:27.7
1500 m2:22.1515 January 1972Inzell2:15.8
3000 m5:08.72 February 1969Grenoble4:52.0
Mini combination191.45815 January 1972Inzell182.805
Sprint combination175.73021 February 1971Inzellno WR yet