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
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...
, was held from 8 to 20 February. Ten events were contested at
M-Wave
, or , is a covered speed skating oval in the city of Nagano, Japan. M-Wave, which opened in November, 1996, was constructed for the speed skating events at the 1998 Winter Olympics. It was Japan's first International Skating Union (ISU) stand ...
.
The Netherlands dominated the Nagano speed skating events, winning five gold medals and eleven medals overall, their highest total in any Winter games up until that point.
Bart Veldkamp
Bart Veldkamp (; born 22 November 1967) is a retired Speed skating, speed skater, who represented the Netherlands and later Belgium in international competitions, including the Winter Olympics. He currently is the national speed skating coach of ...
's bronze medal was the first in speed skating for Belgium, and the first at the Winter Games for the country in 50 years.
Lyudmila Prokasheva's bronze medal for Kazakhstan was that country's first in the sport as well, and Prokasheva became the first woman from Kazakhstan to earn an Olympic medal.
Gianni Romme and
Marianne Timmer led the individual medal tables, with two gold each.
Medal summary
Medal table
Men's events
Women's events
Records
Five world records and twelve Olympic records were set in Nagano.
Participating NOCs
Twenty-five nations competed in the speed skating events at Nagano. New Zealand and Portugal made their Olympic speed skating debuts.
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References
{{Speed skating at the Winter Olympics
1998 in speed skating
Olympics, 1998
Events at the 1998 Winter Olympics