Anne Elizabeth Henning (born September 6, 1955) is a retired American

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. She grew up in

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorpo ...

, and started in

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after her, switched to long track speed skating. In 1971, 15-year-old Henning won silver at the ISU Sprint Championships, the forerunner of the World Sprint Championships. During those championships, she set new world records in both her 500 m races. In 1972, Henning broke the world records on the 500 m and the 1,000 m, which made her the favorite on those distances at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. During her 500 m race against

Sylvia Burka Sylvia Burka ( lv, Silvija Burka; born May 4, 1954, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a former ice speed skater and track cyclist from Canada of Latvian descent, who represented her native country at three consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1972 i ...

at those Olympics, Henning was obstructed at the crossing by Burka, but she still set the fastest time and a new Olympic record (43.70). In her re-skate, which she was allowed to take according to the rules, she improved her time to 43.33. Aged 16, this made Henning the youngest Olympic Champion in the history of Olympic speed skating. On the 1,000 m, Henning took the bronze medal behind surprise winner Monika Pflug and only 0.01 seconds behind silver medallist

Atje Keulen-Deelstra Atje Keulen-Deelstra (31 December 1938 – 22 February 2013) was a Dutch speed skater, who was a four-time World Allround Champion between the age of 32 and 36. Anne Henning is a retired fourth grade teacher in Aurora, Colorado.Anne Henning
sports-reference.com She has 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren. She is married to Erik Palmer and resides in Aurora, Colorado.

World records

Over the course of her career, Henning skated four

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (''WR'') lists the official world records on the dates that Henning skated her personal records.

References

External links

Anne Henning at SkateResults.comPersonal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database
*https://www.aarp.org/personal-growth/life-stories/info-02-2010/olympic_stars_where.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henning, Anne 1955 births Living people Speed skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in speed skating Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating Sportspeople from Raleigh, North Carolina World record setters in speed skating American female speed skaters Glenbrook North High School alumni Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists