Speed Skating

Historic Feats, Olympic Medals and World Records: the story of speed skating in Australia.

Victoria has a long and impressive history in speed skating at the national and international levels. For example, Victorian Colin Coates represented Australia at six consecutive Winter Olympic Games, a feat unmatched by any other Australian Olympian.

Short track speed skating delivered Australia’s first Winter Olympic medal (a Bronze medal for the Men’s 5,000 metre relay team) at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Games; and then Australia’s first Gold Medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games (Stephen Bradbury 1,000 metre event).

Prior to short track speed skating becoming a Winter Olympic sport in 1992, NSW skater Jim Lynch won the first World short track speed skating championship which was held in Sheffield England in 1978.

In more recent times, Deanna Lockett and Andy Jung represented Australia at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in short track speed skating while Daniel Greig skated in the long track version.

Speed Skating in Victoria and Australia: Official Bodies

Ice racing in Australia is governed by the Australian Ice Racing Association (AIR). The national body sets the standards, policies and procedures for all State Associations to follow. For more information go to https://australianiceracing.org

Victoria: Established in 1949, the Victorian Ice Racing Association Inc (VIRA) is the peak body for speed skating in Victoria http://www.vira.org.au

There are two affiliated clubs:

Docklands Demons Ice Racing Club https://www.facebook.com/secretaryddirc/
Olympic Southern Flyers Speed Skating Club https://olympicsouthernflyers.org.au

O’Brien IceHouse is the official training facility of the Australian short track speed skating program, and team https://obrienicehouse.com.au/ice-sports-programs/speed-skating.

Also located at O’Brien Ice House is the Olympic Winter Institute (OWI) http://www.owia.org. The OWI supports the National Speed Skating teams and the national development squad.

Strategy, Power, Speed, Crashes, Start and End Games

This might sound like an advert for NASCAR on ice, it’s not - it is a description of Short Track Speed Skating. Swap NASCARs for Speed Skates, bitumen for ice - and you’re off!

Short track speed skating is conducted on a 111 metre oval track with skaters reaching speeds over 50kph.

Skaters wear razor sharp blades that are 1mm thick and over 45cm long. The blades are attached to lightweight carbon fibre boots and are bent to help the skater turn at high speed. Racing suits and gloves are made from cut-proof material and skaters must wear a helmet.

Short track races are conducted over distances ranging from 333 metres to 3,000 metres with either 4 or 8 skaters competing. Teams of 4 skaters race in relays over 3,000 or 5,000 metres. Modern speed skating competitions also include mass starts and team pursuit racing (first across the line wins).

Long track skaters race in pairs and against the clock.

Want to have a go at Speed Skating?

Learn to Speed Skate Programs are designed to get everyone on the ice safely and quickly http://www.vira.org.au.