How fast do speed skaters go?

One of the earliest faster speed skaters was Russia's Yevgeny Grishin Yevgeny Grishin, who was able to skate 500 meters in 39.6 seconds in 1963. Since then, many records have been set, and as of 2014 the men's record for 500 meters is Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon at 34.03 seconds.

For women, the record holder as of 2014 in the 500-meter race is Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea, who is skates that distance in 36.36 seconds. As of 2014, the world record for the 1,000-meter race is held by the United States' Shani Davis, who has a time of 1:06.42. The women's 1,000-meter time is 1:12.58.