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 (which have to be skated twice) for Sprint Championships. However, the speed skating events at the Olympic Games were always individual distances, no medals are awarded for a combined event (the only exception being the 1924 Winter Olympics).

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 (Winter) Olympic years.

Distances

The skaters compete in the following distances: +Men (List of medal winners)Women (List of medal winners)Notes500 m500 m1,000 m1,000 m1,500 m1,500 m5,000 m3,000 m10,000 m5,000 mTeam pursuitTeam pursuit(since 2005)Mass start Mass start (since 2015)Team sprintTeam sprint (2019–2020, since 2023)

Summary ISU Single Distances ChampionshipsNumberYearCityCountryEvents1 1996 Hamar 102 1997 Warsaw 103 1998 Calgary 104 1999 Heerenveen 105 2000 Nagano 106 2001 Salt Lake City 107 2003 Berlin 108 2004 Seoul 109 2005 Inzell 1210 2007 Salt Lake City 1211 2008 Nagano 1212 2009 Richmond 1213 2011 Inzell 1214 2012 Heerenveen 1215 2013 Sochi 1216 2015 Heerenveen 1417 2016 Kolomna 1418 2017 Gangneung 1419 2019 Inzell 1620 2020 Salt Lake City 1621 2021 Heerenveen 1422 2023 Heerenveen 1623 2024 Calgary 1624 2025 Hamar 1625 2027 Beijing 16

Medal summary The medal table by nations is the total number of the 16 distances (men and women) at all of the 23 championships (1996–2025). 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 (including those who are not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Skater Country From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Sven Kramer 2007 2020 21 3 2 26 2 Shani Davis 2004 2015 8 4 3 15 3 Bob de Jong 1997 2013 7 8 5 20 4 Gianni Romme 1996 2004 7 2 3 12 5 Erben Wennemars 1999 2008 6 2 3 11 6 Jordan Stolz 2023 2025 6 2 1 9 7 Jorrit Bergsma 2012 2023 5 8 – 13 8 Carl Verheijen 2001 2009 5 5 3 13 9 Hiroyasu Shimizu 1996 2005 5 3 2 10 10 Pavel Kulizhnikov Russian Skating Union 2015 2021 5 3 1 9

Women Top 10, including team pursuit and team sprint. Boldface denotes active skaters and highest medal count among all skaters (including those who are not included in these tables) per type.

Rank Skater Country From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Martina Sáblíková 2007 2025 16 7 4 27 2 Ireen Wüst 2007 2021 15 15 1 31 3 Anni Friesinger 1997 2009 12 9 1 22 4 Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann 1996 2001 11 3 – 14 5 Irene Schouten 2015 2024 8 2 5 15 6 Christine Nesbitt 2007 2013 7 2 3 12 7 Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong 2016 2025 6 5 2 13 8 Miho Takagi 2015 2025 6 4 6 16 9 Claudia Pechstein 1996 2017 5 13 12 30 10 Ivanie Blondin 2015 2025 5 9 3 17

References