The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. The championships are held over a two-day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day (so-called sprint combination). Since the higher speeds towards the end of the race tend to favour the skater who skates the last outer lane, each skater starts both distances once in the inner lane and once in the outer lane. The times on those distances are then converted to points using the samalog system, and the skaters are then ranked according to the fewest points.
The International Skating Union has organised the World Sprint Championships for Men and the World Sprint Championships for Women since 1970 and both are held at the same time and venue. The first two years (1970 and 1971), they were called the ISU Sprint Championships. Since 2020, the men's and women's World Sprint Championships are held every even year – at same time and venue as the men's and women's World Allround Championships.
The (non-Olympic) team sprint world championship events are normally being held at the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships since 2019. In a 2021–22 Olympic season this events were held during the 2022 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.
Hosts YearVenueNation1970 West Allis 1971 Inzell 1972 Eskilstuna 1973 Oslo 1974 Innsbruck 1975 Gothenburg 1976 West Berlin 1977 Alkmaar 1978 Lake Placid 1979 Inzell 1980 West Allis 1981 Grenoble 1982 Alkmaar 1983 Helsinki 1984 Trondheim 1985 Heerenveen 1986 Karuizawa 1987 Sainte Foy YearVenueNation1988 West Allis 1989 Heerenveen 1990 Tromsø 1991 Inzell 1992 Oslo 1993 Ikaho 1994 Calgary 1995 Milwaukee 1996 Heerenveen 1997 Hamar 1998 Berlin 1999 Calgary 2000 Seoul 2001 Inzell 2002 Hamar 2003 Calgary 2004 Nagano 2005 Salt Lake City YearVenueNation2006 Heerenveen 2007 Hamar 2008 Heerenveen 2009 Moscow 2010 Obihiro 2011 Heerenveen 2012 Calgary 2013 Salt Lake City 2014 Nagano 2015 Astana 2016 Seoul 2017 Calgary 2018 Changchun 2019 Heerenveen 2020 Hamar 2022 Hamar 2024 Inzell 2026 Heerenveen
Medal tables (1970–2026)
Combined all-time medal count including team sprint
Notes - Using the world record per 2012 as an example: at the world championships on 28/29 January 2012, Stefan Groothuis skated his 500 m races in 34.84 and 34.74 seconds, respectively, and his 1,000 m races in 1:07.50 and 1:06.96. His total score was therefore 34.840 + 34.740 + 33.750 + 33.480 = 136.810 points.
References