Speed skating 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 skat ...

at the

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

, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at Makomanai Open Stadium in Sapporo, Japan. This was the first Olympics at which electronic times were recorded to the hundredth of a second.

Medal summary

Medal table

The Netherlands topped the medal table, with four golds and nine overall, led by Ard Schenk's three gold medals. Schenk led the individual medal table, winning each of the three longer distance events. The most successful female skater was the Netherlands's Stien Kaiser, who won one gold and one silver medal.

Men's events

Women's events

Records

Seven of the eight events had new Olympic records set, with only the men's 5000 metres record remaining unbroken.

Participating NOCs

Eighteen nations competed in the speed skating events at Sapporo. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{Speed skating at the Winter Olympics Events at the 1972 Winter Olympics

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1972 in speed skating Olympics, 1972