World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men
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The International Skating Union has organised the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men since 1893. Unofficial Championships were held in the years 1889–1892.
World Allround Speed Skating Championships
Status
active
Genre
sports event
Date
January–March
Frequency
biennial
Location
various
Inaugurated
1889 (1889)
Organised by
ISU
History
Distances used
In 1889, three distances had to be skated: 1/2 mile (805 m) — 1 mile (1,609 m) — 2 miles (3,219 m).
In the years 1890–1892, four distances had to be skated: 1/2 mile (805 m) — 1 mile (1,609 m) — 2 miles (3,219 m) — 5 miles (8,047 m).
Since 1893, four distances have to be skated: 500 m (0.31 mi) — 1,500 m (0.93 mi) — 5,000 m (3.1 mi) — 10,000 m (6.2 mi) (the big combination).
Ranking systems used
In 1889, one could only win the World Championships by winning all three distances. If no one won all three distances, no winner would be declared. Silver and bronze medals were not awarded.
In the years 1890–1907, one could only win the World Championships by winning at least three of the four distances, so there would be no World Champion if no skater won at least three distances. Silver and bronze medals were never awarded.
In the years 1908–1925, ranking points were awarded (1 point for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place, and so on); the final ranking was then decided by ordering the skaters by lowest point totals. The rule that a skater winning at least three distances was automatically World Champion was still in effect, though, so the ranking could be affected by that. Silver and bronze medals were awarded now as well.
In the years 1926–1927, the ranking points on each distance were percentage points, calculated from a skater's time and the current world record time. Apart from that, the system used was the same as in the immediately preceding years.
Since 1928, the samalog system has been in use. However, the rule that a skater winning at least three distances was automatically World Champion remained in effect until (and including) 1986. This rule was applied in 1983 when Rolf Falk-Larssen from Norway won three distances and thus become World Champion despite after end of fourth distance (10,000 m) he had a worse samalog score than silver medalist Tomas Gustafson from Sweden.
Records
Sven Kramer from Netherlands has won a total of nine world championships, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. He also hold records for total number of medals (12) by winning bronze medals in 2005, 2006 and 2019. Before Kramer, Clas Thunberg from Finland and Oscar Mathisen from Norway held the record with five world championships.
Sven Kramer has won four consecutive world championships, in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The youngest World Allround Champion is Eric Heiden from the United States who won his first of three world allround titles in 1977 at age 18.
The oldest World Allround Champion is Clas Thunberg from Finland who won his fifth and last world allround title in 1931 at age 37.
Roberto Sighel from Italy hold record by number of participations in the championships (16 times in 1987–2002).
The biggest point margin between the winner and the second placed skater at the end of competition is 4.832 points between Eric Heiden from the United States and Jan Egil Storholt from Norway in 1979.
At the 1983 championships, Rolf Falk-Larssen from Norway won three distances and thus become World Allround Champion in accordance with then-existing rule. Being de-facto champion, he finished in 13th place at final distance (10,000 m) and in second place in points classification by losing 0.424 points to Tomas Gustafson from Sweden who eventually become silver medalist. Without taking into account this case, the smallest winning margin between the champion and the runner-up is 0.042 points between Soviet skaters Oleg Goncharenko and Robert Merkulov in 1956.
There are six speed skaters who become World Allround Champions by winning all four distances at the championships – Joe Donoghue from the United States (1891; unofficial championships), Jaap Eden from Netherlands (1896), Nikolay Strunnikov from Russia (1911), Oscar Mathisen from Norway (1912), Ard Schenk from Netherlands (1972) and Eric Heiden from the United States (1979).
By contrast, there are 13 speed skaters who become World Allround Champions without winning any of four distances – Michael Staksrud from Norway (1937), Alfons Bērziņš from Latvia (1940; unofficial championships), Odd Lundberg from Norway (1948), Juhani Järvinen from Finland (1959), Viktor Kosichkin from the Soviet Union (1962), Dag Fornæss from Norway (1969), Harm Kuipers from Netherlands (1975), Eric Flaim from the United States (1988), Johann Olav Koss from Norway (1990), Roberto Sighel from Italy (1992), Rintje Ritsma from Netherlands (1999 and 2001), Chad Hedrick from the United States (2004) and Koen Verweij from Netherlands (2014).
Eric Heiden and Shani Davis (both from the United States) are only men's speed skaters who become champions both at the World Allround and the World Sprint Championships. Heiden won three World Allround Championships in 1977–1979 and four World Sprint Championships in 1977–1980. He remained the only men's speed skater who win both championships in one calendar year by firstly achieving this feat in 1977 and then repeating this success in 1978 and 1979. Shani Davis is the only men's speed skater who won world titles at three different championships – World Allround Championships (2005 and 2006), World Sprint Championships (2009) and World Single Distances Championships (8 gold medals in 2004–2015).
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