In The Beginning
The roots of ice skating date back over 1,000 years to the frozen canals and waterways of Scandinavia and the Netherlands when men laced animal bones to their footwear and glided across frozen lakes and rivers.
By the 1600’s, traveling on blades between villages had become a useful and enjoyable means of transportation for the Dutch. Surprisingly, credit for the first pair of all-iron skates goes to a Scotsman who invented them in 1592. The iron blade accelerated the spread of speed skating and in 1642 the Skating Club of Edinburgh was formed. In 1763 the world's first organized speed skating race, which covered a distance of slightly more than 24 kilometres, was held on the
Eventually, the fledgling sport found its way to
Three countries — Norway, Germany and Canada — contested the 1897 World Speed Skating Championship in Montréal with the world title going to Winnipegger Jack McCulloch.
Long Track History
Olympic speed skating, or long track as it is known today, made its debut at the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France and it has been a highlight of the Games ever since. Early Olympic competition was dominated by the Finns and Norwegians; however, the Americans invariably provided stiff competition.
By the late 1930s, popular interest in speed skating began to decline; and as hockey arenas were built, professional hockey hastened the diminishing spectator appeal of the sport. The advent of World War II also took a toll on the popularity of Canadian speed skating. When Olympic competition resumed in 1948, the Norwegians remained the skaters to beat. However, at the 1952 Oslo Games Canada's Gordon Audley brought home the 500 m bronze medal. By 1956 at Cortina d'Ampezzo,
The 1972 Games were memorable because of the Dutchman, Ard Schenk, winner of three gold medals. For
It was in
The next four years proved to be a building period for
Since 1994, the long track team has had excellent performances at the world level. It started with a bang in 1994 when Kevin Scott broke the world record in the 1,000m during the Canadian Sprint Championship and then won the gold medal in the 1,000m at the World Sprint Championship in
The 1997-1998 season was the best ever for the Canadian long track team. Five Olympic medals, 18 World Championship medals and 42 World Cup medals were won by 8 different members of the team. Four overall World Cup titles were also captured by Canadian skaters. Leading the way was Catriona LeMay Doan, who won gold in every 500 m event she entered, save one World Cup where she was beaten by teammate Susan Auch. She won a gold in the 500 m and bronze in the 1,000 m at the Nagano Olympics, the World Sprint Championships, gold and silver in the 500 m and 1,000 m respectively at the World Single Distance Championships, the overall World Cup titles for those same distances and at one point, held the 500 m, 1,000 m, and 1,500 m World Records. She finished the season with the 500 m World and Olympic Records to her name. Not to be outdone, Susan Auch won 500 m silver medals at the Nagano Olympics and the World Sprint Championships and finished the season second overall in the World Cup standings for that distance.
A Canadian 2-3-4-5 finish at the Nagano Olympics, with Jeremy Wotherspoon winning silver and Kevin Overland bronze, was the highlight of the men’s long track team in 1997-1998 season. Wotherspoon also won the overall World Cup titles over 500 m and 1,000 m and finished second overall at the World Sprint Championships winning medals in all four distances. He also came in third in the 500 m and second in the 1,000 m at the World Single Distance Championships placing right behind fellow teammate Sylvain Bouchard in each distance. Bouchard won silver and gold in those two distances and set a World Record in the 1,000 m in the process. Steven Elm had a breakthrough year on the all-round team winning the first World Cup medal in the 5,000 m for
The 98-99 season was very successful as the athletes continued to do well on the International scene. Jeremy Wotherspoon won the overall World Cup titles over 500 m and 1,000 m and finished first overall at the World Sprint Championships. Michael Ireland finished 3rd overall in the 500 m World Cup final classification. Catriona Lemay Doan once again proved that her success is not due to chance. She finished 2nd at World Sprint Championships and she finished respectively 1st and 3rd for the 500 m and 1,000 m at both the overall World Cup standing and World Single Distance Championships.
During the 99-00 season, Canadian speed skaters showed that they would be serious contenders for medals at 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. Jeremy Wotherspoon repeated his last season achivement to finish 1st overall in both the 500 m and 1,000 m at World Cup and to win the World Sprint Champion-ships. He also finished 3rd in the 500 m at the World Single Distance Championships. Michael Ireland finished 3rd overall at the World Cup for the 500 m and finished 2nd at the World Sprint Championships behind Jeremy Wotherspoon, to become vice-champion. He also finished 2nd in the 500 m and 3rd in the 1,000 m at the World Single Distance Championships. Catriona Lemay Doan finished 3rd in the 500 m at the same competition.
Short Track History
The sport of short track speed skating, characterized by the mass start, originated in
Short track speed skating became part of the ISU in 1967, although it would be some time before ISU-sanctioned competitions were organized on a world-wide basis. In the meantime,
In 1984 the name of the discipline was changed to Indoor Short Track Speed Skating and the use of a hard shell helmet became mandatory. Another milestone occurred in 1988 when the sport made its Olympic debut as a demonstration event at the Calgary Winter Olympic Games. Full medal status came in 1992 at the Albertville Winter Games.
Despite its relatively short history, short track speed skating has produced many illustrious moments — many of which have belonged to Canadians. In the early days, it was common for world long track champions race in short tracks. One of the first stars was Lela Brooks, who is still regarded as one of
Domination of the discipline has seesawed between
team also captured the World Team Championship in
In 1995, the men's team became the World Team Champion and in the process broke the World Record in the 5,000 m Relay. Marc Gagnon and Frédéric Blackburn finished 2nd and 3rd respectively at the World Short Track Championships. The women's team also finished third at the World Team Championships. Finally, Patrice Lapointe and Jonathan Guilmette both finished 2nd overall at the Junior World Championships while Catherine Dussault finished third on the women's side. In 1996, Marc Gagnon regained his World Championship title while the men's team successfully retained its World Team Champion status. Isabelle Charest broke the World record in the 500 m and finished third overall at the World 78 Championships. Jean-François Monette won
the Junior World Short Track Championships. 1997, Marc Gagnon finished 2nd overall the World Short Track Championships and Derrick Campbell finished 3rd overall. At these Championships, Isabelle Charest broke the World record in the 500 m, the women’s team captured the gold in the relay and the Men’s team finished 2nd in the relay.
The 1998 season was another successful year for the Canadian Short Track team. The 5,000 m relay team of Marc Gagnon, Derrick Campbell, Éric Bédard and François Drolet won the Olympic and World Championships Gold medals. Mathieu Turcotte joined them in winning the World Team Championships. Éric Bédard surprised many in winning a bronze in
that
The 98-99 season was crowned with success. Both the men and women’s teams finished 2nd at World Team Championships. Andrew Quinn won bronze at the World Champion-ships, finishing 3rd in the 1,000 m. François-Louis Tremblay finished 3rd at the Junior World Championships and Marie-Êve Drolet finished 2nd in both the 500 m and 1,500 m. The 99-00 season was also very good for Canadian short track speed skaters. Éric Bédard finished 2nd overall at the World Championships. During the same competition, the women's relay team finished in 3rd position. At the World Team Championships, the men's team finished 1st. Marie-Êve Drolet won the World Junior Championships and Andrew Lahey finished in 3rd place.