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Rankings & Lists

Greatest Speed Skaters of All Time

Long track and short track speed skating's most decorated Olympians ranked by career medal haul.

29Athletes Ranked
⛸️Speed Skating

Long track and short track speed skating's most decorated Olympians ranked by career medal haul.

1
EH

American·Speed Skating

Eric Heiden

Five gold medals at Lake Placid 1980 across every speed skating distance — the greatest single-Games performance in Winter Olympics history.

5 Olympic golds · 3 world titles

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2
BB

American·Speed Skating

Bonnie Blair

America's most decorated female Winter Olympian — five Olympic gold medals across three Games and the first American woman to win the same e

5 Olympic golds · 3 world titles

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3
IW

Dutch·Speed Skating

Ireen Wüst

Dutch speed skater who became the most successful Olympic speed skater of all time with six Olympic gold medals and thirteen total Olympic m

6 Olympic golds · 7 world titles

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4
CP

German·Speed Skating

Claudia Pechstein

Nine Olympic medals and the most decorated Winter Olympian in German history — Claudia Pechstein competed across six Olympic Games spanning

5 Olympic golds · 6 world titles

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5
AA

American·Speed Skating

Apolo Anton Ohno

American short track speed skater who became the most decorated American Winter Olympian with eight Olympic medals across three Games from 2

2 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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6
SK

Dutch·Speed Skating

Sven Kramer

Dutch speed skater and the most decorated male speed skater in Olympic history, who became the only skater to win the same Olympic event thr

4 Olympic golds · 9 world titles

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7
LS

Soviet·Speed Skating

Lidiya Skoblikova

Soviet speed skater nicknamed the 'Lightning from the Urals,' the first athlete in history to win four gold medals at a single Winter Olympi

6 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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8
CT

Finnish·Speed Skating

Clas Thunberg

Finnish speed skater nicknamed 'Nurmi on Ice,' who dominated the sport's first two Winter Olympics and holds a men's record of five Olympic

5 Olympic golds · 5 world titles

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9
GN

German·Speed Skating

Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann

German speed skater who dominated women's distance events for over a decade, winning eight Olympic medals and a record eight World Allround

3 Olympic golds · 8 world titles

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10
KK

East German·Speed Skating

Karin Kania

East German speed skater who switched from figure skating to become one of the most dominant sprinters in the sport's history, winning eight

3 Olympic golds · 11 world titles

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11
YV

Dutch·Speed Skating

Yvonne van Gennip

Dutch speed skater who staged one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, sweeping three gold medals at the 1988 Calgary Games less than

3 Olympic golds

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12
MT

Dutch·Speed Skating

Marianne Timmer

Dutch speed skater and the first Netherlands skater to win Olympic gold at two different Winter Games, whose surprise double gold at Nagano

3 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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13
SD

American·Speed Skating

Shani Davis

American speed skater who became the first Black athlete from any nation to win an individual Winter Olympics gold medal, successfully defen

2 Olympic golds · 3 world titles

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14
CK

Canadian·Speed Skating

Cindy Klassen

Canadian speed skater who overcame a horrific arm injury to win a record five medals at a single Olympics in 2006, becoming Canada's most de

1 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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15
SB

Australian·Speed Skating

Steven Bradbury

Australian short track speed skater who became the first Southern Hemisphere athlete to win a Winter Olympics gold medal in one of the most

1 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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16
LS

South Korean·Speed Skating

Lee Sang-hwa

South Korean speed skater and the fastest woman in 500m history, who became the first Asian woman to win Olympic speed skating gold and defe

2 Olympic golds · 4 world titles

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17
CM

South Korean·Speed Skating

Choi Min-jeong

South Korean short track speed skater nicknamed the 'Queen of Korean Short Track,' who became her nation's most decorated Olympian of all ti

4 Olympic golds · 4 world titles

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18
VA

South Korean / Russian·Speed Skating

Viktor Ahn

Short track speed skater born Ahn Hyun-soo in South Korea, who became the most decorated Olympic short track skater in history by winning go

6 Olympic golds · 6 world titles

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19
WM

Chinese·Speed Skating

Wang Meng

Chinese short track speed skater and the most decorated Winter Olympian in Chinese history, who dominated the 500m for nearly a decade befor

4 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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20
CH

Canadian·Speed Skating

Charles Hamelin

Canadian short track speed skater and the country's most decorated male Winter Olympian, whose 20-year career ended with a sixth Olympic med

4 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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21
AF

Italian·Speed Skating

Arianna Fontana

Italian short track speed skater and Italy's most decorated Olympian across both Summer and Winter Games, who became the first woman to win

3 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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22
EJ

American·Speed Skating

Erin Jackson

American speed skater who became the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympics gold medal, capturing 500m glory in 2022 after n

1 Olympic golds · 2 World Cup wins

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23
NK

Japanese·Speed Skating

Nao Kodaira

Japanese speed skater and the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic speed skating gold medal, whose 2018 500m triumph included a widely cel

1 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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24
DJ

American·Speed Skating

Dan Jansen

American speed skater whose emotional 1994 Olympic gold, won on his final career race after a decade of heartbreak, remains one of the most

1 Olympic golds · 2 world titles

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25
JO

Norwegian·Speed Skating

Johann Olav Koss

Norwegian speed skater who won three world-record gold medals at his home Olympics in 1994 before retiring to become a physician and found R

4 Olympic golds · 3 world titles

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26
CH

American·Speed Skating

Chad Hedrick

American speed skater and inline skating legend who won five Olympic medals across five different distances, a feat matched only by Eric Hei

1 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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27
CW

American·Speed Skating

Chris Witty

American speed skater and dual Olympian in both cycling and speed skating, who won a shock Olympic gold and world record at the 2002 Salt La

1 Olympic golds · 1 world titles

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28
CF

American·Speed Skating

Casey FitzRandolph

American speed skater who won the 2002 Olympic 500m title, becoming the first American to win the event since fellow Wisconsin native Eric H

1 Olympic golds

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29
DP

American·Speed Skating

Derek Parra

Mexican-American speed skater who became the first US Hispanic athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, setting a world record in the 1,5

1 Olympic golds

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