Short-track speed skating facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Short-track speed skating

3000 meters short-track relay during the 2014 Winter Olympics
Highest governing body	International Skating Union
Characteristics
Mixed-sex	Yes
Type	Separate competitions for male and female
Equipment	ice skates, helmet, gloves, suit, shin guards, neck guard, safety glasses
Presence
Olympic	1988 (demonstration) 1992–present

Preparation of the ice

Placement of rubber cones

Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of 111.111 metres (364.54 ft). The rink itself is 60 metres (196.85 ft) long by 30 metres (98.43 ft) wide, which is the same size as an Olympic-sized figure skating rink and an international-sized ice hockey rink. Related sports include long track speed skating and inline speed skating.

History

Short-track skating developed from speed skating events that were held with mass starts. This form of speed skating was mainly practised in the United States and Canada, as opposed to the international form (derived from Europe), where athletes skated in pairs. At the 1932 Winter Olympics, speed skating events were conducted in the mass start form. Competitions in North America tended to be held indoors, for example in Madison Square Garden, New York, and therefore on shorter tracks than was usual for outdoor skating.

In 1967, the International Skating Union (ISU) adopted short-track speed skating, although it did not organize international competitions until 1976. World Championships in short-track speed skating have been officially held since 1981, although events held in 1976–1980 under different names have since received the status of World Championships retrospectively. The name of the competition was changed several times before it was eventually titled the "World Short Track Speed Skating Championships" in 1989; the championships are now held annually.

Short-track speed skating was introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. It was upgraded to a full Olympic sport in 1992 and has been part of the Winter Olympics ever since. There were only four short-track events in the 1992 Winter Games, but the program was expanded to include six events in 1994 and 1998, and finally eight events in the 2002 Winter Games. The events are the same for both men and women: 500 meters, 1000 meters, 1500 meters, plus the relay event (5000 meters for men, 3000 meters for women). Since the 2018–19 World Cup season, a 2000-meter mixed-team relay was added, and debuted in the 2022 Winter Olympics. A 3,000-meter super-final event is included in the European Championships, but this is not currently part of the Olympic short-track program.

Rules

Skaters who commit one of the following offences risk immediate disqualification from a race and having their times rendered invalid.

• Impeding: Intentionally pushing, blocking, tripping or otherwise causing an impediment for another skater
• Off track: Skating outside the designated track
• Assistance: Giving physical assistance to another skater. For example: pushing a teammate from behind for an extra boost, or allowing a teammate to lean on another for stability in corners
• Shooting the line or Kicking out: Driving the foot in lead ahead to reach the finish faster, resulting in the lead foot lifting off the ice and creating a dangerous situation for others
• Unsportsmanlike conduct: Acting in a manner not befitting an athlete or a role model. Including cursing at a competitor, kicking your feet, striking other skaters or officials, etc.
• Equipment: Not wearing the proper safety equipment, losing equipment during the race, or exposure of skin not on face or neck.
• False Start: Leaving before firing of the starter's pistol. On the second violation in the race, the offender on that start risks disqualification & must leave.
• Did not finish: Usually due to injury, the skater did not finish the race.
• Did not skate: The skater did not go to the starting line.

In relay races, each team has four skaters, who can take turns freely by tagging. A skater may be relayed at any time except during the last two laps. Usually, the outgoing skater pushes the incoming skater to help the teammate to gain speed.

Short-track at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, Innsbruck

World records

Men

Distance	Athlete	Nation	City	Date	Record time	Ref
500 m	Wu Dajing	China	Salt Lake City, United States	11 November 2018	39.505
1000 m	Hwang Dae-heon	South Korea	Salt Lake City, United States	12 November 2016	1:20.875
1500 m	Sjinkie Knegt	Netherlands	Salt Lake City, United States	13 November 2016	2:07.943
3000 m	Noh Jin-kyu	South Korea	Warsaw, Poland	19 March 2011	4:31.891
5000 m relay	Csaba Burján Cole Krueger Shaoang Liu Shaolin Sándor Liu	Hungary	Calgary, Canada	4 November 2018	6:28.625

Women

Distance	Athlete	Nation	City	Date	Record time	Ref
500 m	Xandra Velzeboer	Netherlands	Salt Lake City, United States	4 November 2022	41.416
1000 m	Suzanne Schulting	Netherlands	Salt Lake City, United States	4 November 2022	1:25.958
1500 m	Choi Min-jeong	South Korea	Salt Lake City, United States	12 November 2016	2:14.354
3000 m	Jung Eun-ju	South Korea	Harbin, China	15 March 2008	4:46.983
3000 m relay	Selma Poutsma Suzanne Schulting Yara van Kerkhof Xandra Velzeboer	Netherlands	Beijing, China	23 October 2021	4:02.809

Mixed

Distance	Athlete	Nation	City	Date	Record time	Ref
2000 m relay	Kim A-lang Kim Dong-wook Kim Ji-yoo Kwak Yoon-gy	South Korea	Beijing, China	24 October 2021	2:35.951

Notable skaters

The following is the list of athletes who are Individual gold medalist at the Olympic Winter Games or Overall World Champion and have won Olympic Winter Games or Overall World Championships at least three times.

Men

Athlete	Nation	Born	Olympics	World Championships (overall)	Olympics + World Championships (overall)	World Championships (distances, relay, team)	Total
						Total				Total				Total				Total				Total
Ahn Hyun-Soo (Viktor Ahn)	South Korea  Russia	1985	6	0	2	8	6	1	0	7	12	1	2	15	22	13	6	41	34	13	9	56
Marc Gagnon	Canada	1975	3	0	2	5	4	2	1	7	7	2	3	12	15	9	4	28	22	11	7	40
Charles Hamelin	Canada	1984	4	1	0	5	1	3	3	7	5	4	3	12	12	15	10	37	16	19	13	48
Kim Ki-hoon	South Korea	1967	3	0	0	3	1	2	1	4	4	2	1	7	2+	1+	2+	5+	6+	3+	3+	12+
Apolo Anton Ohno	United States	1982	2	2	4	8	1	2	1	4	3	4	5	12	8	5	6	19	11	9	11	31
Lee Ho-Suk	South Korea	1986	1	4	0	5	2	2	0	4	3	6	0	9	8	5	4	17	11	11	4	26
Kim Dong-Sung	South Korea	1980	1	1	0	2	2	0	1	3	3	1	1	5	10	7	3	20	13	8	4	25
Shaoang Liu	Hungary	1998	2	0	2	4	1	0	0	1	3	0	2	5	1	5	2	8	4	5	4	13

Women

Athlete	Nation	Born	Olympics	World Championships (overall)	Olympics + World Championships (overall)	World Championships (distances, relay, team)	Total
						Total				Total				Total				Total				Total
Yang Yang (A)	China	1976	2	2	1	5	6	1	0	7	8	3	1	12	26	12	5	43	34	15	6	55
Wang Meng	China	1985	4	1	1	6	3	3	0	6	7	4	1	12	18	11	3	32	25	15	4	44
Chun Lee-kyung	South Korea	1976	4	0	1	5	3	2	0	5	7	2	1	10	10	11	3	24	17	13	4	34
Choi Min-jeong	South Korea	1998	3	2	0	5	4	1	0	5	7	3	0	10	19	3	1	23	26	6	1	33
Sylvie Daigle	Canada	1962	1	1	0	2	5	2	1	8	6	3	1	10	22+	8+	?	31+	28+	11+	1+	40+
Jin Sun-yu	South Korea	1988	3	0	0	3	3	0	0	3	6	0	0	6	10	3	1	14	16	3	1	20
Suzanne Schulting	Netherlands	1997	3	1	2	6	2	0	0	2	5	1	2	8	5	1	2	8	10	2	3	15
Nathalie Lambert	Canada	1962	1	2	0	3	3	2	2	7	4	4	2	10	14+	3+	2+	19+	18+	7+	4+	29+
Choi Eun-kyung	South Korea	1984	2	2	0	4	2	1	0	3	4	3	0	7	12	3	3	18	16	6	3	25
Shim Suk-Hee	South Korea	1997	2	1	1	4	1	1	3	5	3	2	4	9	11	4	1	16	14	6	5	25
Park Seung-hi	South Korea	1992	2	0	3	5	1	2	0	3	3	2	3	8	8	4	1	13	11	6	4	21
Zhou Yang	China	1991	3	0	0	3	0	1	1	2	3	1	1	5	5	4	4	13	8	5	5	18

See also

In Spanish: Patinaje de velocidad sobre pista corta para niños

• Short-track speed skating at the Winter Olympics