Speed skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics

Speed skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics, was held from 4 to 12 February. Eight events were contested at L'Anneau de Vitesse in Grenoble, France.[1][2]

Speed skating at the X Olympic Winter Games
Pictogram for speed skating
Venue	L'Anneau de Vitesse
Date	4–12 February 1968
No. of events	8
Competitors	129 from 19 nations

Medal summary

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Netherlands (NED)	3	3	3	9
2	Norway (NOR)	1	3	0	4
3	Finland (FIN)	1	1	0	2
	Soviet Union (URS)	1	1	0	2
5	Sweden (SWE)	1	0	1	2
6	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	0	1
7	United States (USA)	0	4	1	5
Totals (7 nations)		8	12	5	25

The Netherlands topped the medal table, with nine medals, three of each type. Three tied events meant that only five bronze medals were awarded. The gold medal won by Erhard Keller was the first medal in speedskating for West Germany as a separate country.

Five athletes shared the top of the individual medal table, with one gold and one silver each: Kees Verkerk and Carry Geijssen of the Netherlands, Finland's Kaija Mustonen, the Soviet Union's Lyudmila Titova and Norway's Fred Anton Maier.

Three American female skaters were tied for a silver in the women's 500 meters, all showing the same time.

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres	Erhard Keller  West Germany	40.3	Terry McDermott  United States Magne Thomassen  Norway	40.5	None awarded
1500 metres	Kees Verkerk  Netherlands	2:03.4 (OR)	Ivar Eriksen  Norway Ard Schenk  Netherlands	2:05.0	None awarded
5000 metres	Fred Anton Maier  Norway	7:22.4 (WR)	Kees Verkerk  Netherlands	7:23.2	Peter Nottet  Netherlands	7:25.5
10,000 metres	Johnny Höglin  Sweden	15:23.6 (OR)	Fred Anton Maier  Norway	15:23.9	Örjan Sandler  Sweden	15:31.8

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres	Lyudmila Titova  Soviet Union	46.1	Jenny Fish  United States Dianne Holum  United States Mary Meyers  United States	46.3	None awarded
1000 metres	Carry Geijssen  Netherlands	1:32.6 (OR)	Lyudmila Titova  Soviet Union	1:32.9	Dianne Holum  United States	1:33.4
1500 metres	Kaija Mustonen  Finland	2:22.4 (OR)	Carry Geijssen  Netherlands	2:22.7	Stien Kaiser  Netherlands	2:24.5
3000 metres	Ans Schut  Netherlands	4:56.2 (OR)	Kaija Mustonen  Finland	5:01.0	Stien Kaiser  Netherlands	5:01.3

Records

One world record and six Olympic records were set at Grenoble. The only Olympic records not broken were in the two shortest events, the men's and women's 500 metres.[3][4]

Event	Date	Team	Time	OR	WR
Men's 1500 metres	16 February	Kees Verkerk (NED)	2:03.4	OR
Men's 5000 metres	15 February	Fred Anton Maier (NOR)	7:22.4	OR	WR
Men's 10,000 metres	17 February	Johnny Höglin (SWE)	15:23.6	OR
Women's 1000 metres	11 February	Carry Geijssen (NED)	1:32.6	OR
Women's 1500 metres	10 February	Kaija Mustonen (FIN)	2:22.4	OR
Women's 3000 metres	12 February	Ans Schut (NED)	4:56.2	OR

Participating NOCs

Nineteen nations competed in the speed skating events at Grenoble. East and West Germany made their debuts as separate teams.

•  Australia (1)
•  Austria (3)
•  Canada (7)
•  Finland (8)
•  France (5)
•  East Germany (1)
•  West Germany (8)
•  Great Britain (5)
•  Hungary (3)
•  Italy (4)
•  Japan (12)
•  South Korea (2)
•  Mongolia (3)
•  Netherlands (9)
•  Norway (13)
•  Soviet Union (16)
•  Sweden (11)
•  Switzerland (3)
•  United States (15)

References

1. "Rapport Officiel Xes Jeux Olympiques D'Hiver 1968 Grenoble" (PDF). Comité d'organisation des Xemes jeux olympiques d'hiver. LA84 Foundation. 1968. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
2. "Speed Skating at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
3. "ISU - Speed Skating - Records - World Records". International Skating Union. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
4. "ISU - Speed Skating - Records - Olympic Records". International Skating Union. Retrieved 29 January 2014.