The 1891 World Allround Speed Skating Championships took place at 6 and 7 January at the ice rink

Museumplein The Museumplein (; ) is a public space in the Museumkwartier neighbourhood of the Amsterdam-Zuid borough in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Located at the Museumplein are three major museums – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum � ...

in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It's an unofficial championship because there was no International Skating Union (ISU is founded in 1892) Four distances were skated at the World Championship, the ½ mile (850 meter), the 1 mile (1609 meter), the 2 miles (3219 meter) and the 5 miles (8047 meter). One became champion if one won three of the four distances. The American

Joe Donoghue Joseph F. Donoghue (February 11, 1871 – April 1, 1921Paul J.de Loca, Encyclopedia of ethnicity and sports in the United States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000) was an American speed skating, speed skater. He became the speed skating World Champ ...

won all the four distances and became the first World allround champion.

Allround results

: * = Fell : NC = Not classified : NF = Not finished : NS = Not started : DQ = Disqualified Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Rules

Four distances have to be skated: * ½ mile (805 m) * 1 mile (1609 m) * 2 miles (3219 m) * 5 miles (8047 meter) One could only win the World Championships by winning at three of the four distances, so there would be no World Champion if no skater won three distances. The winner of the ½ mile was decided by a final of the best four skaters of the distance. If the same time was skated a skate-off is skated to decide the ranking. Silver and bronze medals were not awarded.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, 1891 1891 World Allround World Allround, 1891 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, 1891 January 1891 sports events 1891 in the Netherlands 19th century in Amsterdam