World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships


The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union.

History

Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple distances – four different distances for the Allround Championships, and two different distances for Sprint Championships. However, the speed skating events at the Olympic Games were always individual distances, no medals are awarded for a combined event.
Towards the end of the 20th century, skaters started to specialize and it became rare that a skater was able to dominate both the short and the long distances. Perhaps the last skater able to do so was Eric Heiden, who won all five distances at the 1980 Winter Olympics. As a consequence of this specialization, the difference between the Olympic Games and the regular championships, and the popularity of both the Speed skating World Cup and Single Distance Championships held nationally in several countries, the International Skating Union decided to organise the World Single Distance Championships.
Starting in 1996, this originally was an annual event, but in 1998 it became clear that having World Single Distance Championships and the Single Distance Championships as held at the Winter Olympics during the same year was too much, so since 1999, the World Single Distance Championships are no longer held in Olympic years.

Distances

The skaters compete in the following distances:
Men
Women
Notes
500 m500 m
1,000 m1,000 m
1,500 m1,500 m
5,000 m3,000 m
10,000 m5,000 m
Team pursuitTeam pursuit'
Mass startMass start'
Team sprintTeam sprint

Summary

Medal summary

The medal table by nations is the total number of the 16 distances at all of the 23 championships. The individual tables are about the eight distances by gender.

Nations

All medals, click on the nation to go to the list of medallists.
''Updated after the 2025 World Championships.''

Men

Top 10, including team pursuit and team sprint. Boldface denotes active skaters and highest medal count among all skaters per type.
RankSkaterCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Sven Kramer20072020213226
2Shani Davis2004201584315
3Bob de Jong1997201378520
4Gianni Romme1996200472312
5Erben Wennemars1999200862311
6Jordan Stolz202320256219
7Jorrit Bergsma2012202358–13
8Carl Verheijen2001200955313
9Hiroyasu Shimizu1996200553210
10Pavel Kulizhnikov
Russian Skating Union		201520215319

Women

Top 10, including team pursuit and team sprint. Boldface denotes active skaters and highest medal count among all skaters per type.
RankSkaterCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Martina Sáblíková20072025167427
2Ireen Wüst200720211515131
3Anni Friesinger19972009129122
4Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann19962001113–14
5Irene Schouten2015202482515
6Christine Nesbitt2007201372312
7Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong2016202565213
8Miho Takagi2015202564616
9Claudia Pechstein199620175131230
10Ivanie Blondin2015202559317