Bart Swings (born 12 February 1991) is a Belgian long track speed skater and inline speed skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion on the speed skating mass start. Swings won Belgium's first gold medal in 74 years and is the first Belgian athlete ever to have won two medals in the Winter Olympics. In 2023 he won the Belgian National Sports Merit Award, the highest trophy for a sportsperson or team in Belgium.

Career

At his first world championship speed skating event, the 2011 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Inzell, Germany, he finished 17th in the 5000 m. At the 2012 World Allround Speed Skating Championships in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, he finished 9th overall, with a personal record at the 500 m and a national record at the 1500 m. At the 2013 World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, he finished 3rd overall and took the Bronze medal back home to Belgium. At the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

in Pyeongchang, he won a silver medal in the 1st ever Mass start at the Winter Olympics. Four years later, he won the gold medal in this event. It was Belgium's second-ever gold medal in the Winter Olympics history and the first for an individual male athlete. At the 2019 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, he took the lead in the men's mass start but crashed on the final lap, costing him the podium. At the 2021 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, he won bronze in the men's mass start, winning his first-ever medal in a World Single Distances Speed Skating Championship event. At the 2022 Berlin Marathon, he crossed the finish line in 56:45 minutes and set a new course record. At the same time, he secured his eighth victory at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON inline skating. At the World Games, he won seven medals, including four gold. He won two gold, one silver and one bronze at The World Games 2013 in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and two gold and one silver at the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Swings is currently studying for an

engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Asia and Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always require ...

at the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its main camp ...

. His brother Maarten Swings also competes in inline speed skating and speed skating, participating in the inline skating world championships and qualifying for the ISU Speed Skating World Cup.

Personal records

As of 23 November 2015, his highest ranking on the all-time Adelskalender is 11th.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swings, Bart 1991 births Belgian roller skaters Belgian male speed skaters Inline speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters for Belgium World Games gold medalists for Belgium World Games medalists in roller sports World Games silver medalists for Belgium World Games bronze medalists for Belgium People from Herent Living people Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Belgium Olympic silver medalists for Belgium World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Flemish Brabant 21st-century Belgian sportsmen Medalists at the 2013 World Games Medalists at the 2017 World Games Medalists at the 2022 World Games