The Adelskalender in skating is a ranking for
long track speed skating
Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...
based on skaters' all-time personal records for certain distances. As in
samalog
Samalog (or samalogue in UK spelling; sometimes sammenlagt in both Norwegian and Danish: "put together", "total sum") is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in o ...
competitions, the skater's time (measured in seconds) for each distance is divided in 500 metre averages, truncated (not rounded) to 3 decimal places, and the results are then added up – the lower the sum, the better. The samalog system was introduced in 1928 in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, replacing ranking points in the traditional 4 distance championships, and can also be used to reconstruct scores based on personal records that were set before the samalog system was invented.
The classical Adelskalender consists of the
Allround Championships distances:
* Men: 500 m - 1500 m - 5000 m - 10,000 m
* Women: 500 m - 1500 m - 3000 m - 5000 m
Similar rankings in many other combinations are maintained by enthusiasts and available on the Internet.
Calculation
As an example, the points for the current leader in the men's Adelskalendern ranking
Patrick Roest
Patrick Roest (; born 7 December 1995) is a Dutch professional long track speed skater who has won the World Allround Speed Skating Championships three times. He is a member of the commercial team of Team Reggeborgh.
Career
In Bjugn, Norway, in ...
are calculated as follows:
Caveats
The Adelskalender score is calculated over a skater's entire career and not for a single tournament. Theoretically, this would make it possible for a skater to lead the Adelskalender without ever having set a 4 distance championships samalog record, or even having won - or participated in - such a tournament.
Speed skating records have improved dramatically over the years due to a combination of larger participation, introduction of professionalism, improvements in training and selection, and, especially, technical developments, distorting the comparative accomplishments of skaters over time.
[Gerard H. Kuper & Elmer Sterken, ''Endurance in speed skating: The development of world records'', European Journal of Operational Research 148 (2) 293-301 (published 16 July 2003).] For comparison, the ranking leader on 1 January 1900 (
Jaap Eden
Jacobus Johannes "Jaap" Eden (; 19 October 1873 – 2 February 1925) was a Dutch athlete. He is the only male athlete to win world championships in both speed skating and bicycle racing.
Early life
Jaap Eden was born in Groningen to Johannes ...
) had a score of 202.226, "averaging" 35.6 km/h. In 1925
Oscar Mathisen
Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen (4 October 1888 – 10 April 1954) was a Norwegian speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation (Norway became independent in 1905). He represented ''Kristi ...
led with 192.860 (37.3 km/h), in 1950
Åke Seyffarth
Karl Åke Seyffarth (15 December 1919 – 1 January 1998) was a Swedish speed skater who specialised in long distance events. He set new world records on the 5,000 m (8:13.7) in 1941 and on the 3000 m (4:45.7) in 1942. He became Europ ...
led with 188.678 (38.2 km/h), in 1975
Ard Schenk led with 166.241
(43.3 km/h), and in 2000
Rintje Ritsma
Robert Rintje Ritsma (born 13 April 1970) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. His nickname is the ''Beer van Lemmer'', which translates to the Bear from Lemmer, analogous to Igor Zhelezovski's nickname "The Bear from Minsk", both of which ...
led with 150.720 (47.8 km/h).
Among major technical developments were the introduction of artificial (refrigerated) 400 m ovals, the first opening in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
in 1958, aerodynamics suits in 1976 (by
Franz Krienbühl), indoor, climate-controlled ovals in 1986, and the
clap skate
The clap skate (also called clapper skates, clapskates, slap skates, slapskates, from Dutch language, Dutch ) is a type of ice skate used in speed skating. Unlike in traditional skates where the blade is rigidly fixed to the boot, clap skates ...
in 1996.
[ Also, over time, more high altitude skating rinks have been built; the lower air pressure at higher altitude greatly benefits the skater's speed -the rule of thumb is 0.1 points at each distance for every 100 m of increased altitude- and world records generally are set at high altitude.
Even the ranking points of concurrent skaters can be strongly affected by the opportunity skaters have to train and compete on fast rinks. For example, before the 1960s, skaters were dependent on long periods of frost, less common at more southerly latitudes. The effect of access to high altitude rinks was especially notable from 1973 to 1986, when most world records were set at ]Medeo
The Medeu ( kk, Медеу, ''Medeu''), is an outdoor speed skating and bandy rink. It is located in a mountain valley ( Medeu Valley, or the valley of Malaya Almatinka River) on the south-eastern outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Medeu sits ...
in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, a rink at 1,691 m that also enjoyed an unusual all-around tailwind, but was rarely accessible to non-Soviet skaters. In 1977–78, the Adelskalender top 10[ consisted almost entirely of times set at Medeo, while several skaters in the top 10 never reached the podium at international meets. Currently, the two fastest speed skating rinks are, by a long way, the high altitude covered ovals at ]Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
and Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, both in North America. Indeed, after the 2014–15 season, 65 of the last 67 new world distance records and the 264 best times ever on the men's 1000 m were recorded at one of these two venues.
Current Adelskalenders
Men
This table is correct as of 13 February 2022. Times in bold are the current world records
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
at that distance. For comparison: the world record big combination (similar to the men's Adelskalender samalog, only for times in one weekend) is 145.561, by Patrick Roest
Patrick Roest (; born 7 December 1995) is a Dutch professional long track speed skater who has won the World Allround Speed Skating Championships three times. He is a member of the commercial team of Team Reggeborgh.
Career
In Bjugn, Norway, in ...
.
Women
This table is correct as of 5 March 2022.Adelskalender Small combination Women
at SpeedSkatingStats.com Times in bold are the current world records
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
at that distance. For comparison: the world record small combination (similar to the women's Adelskalender samalog, only for times in one weekend) is 154.580, by Cindy Klassen.
References
Adelskalender Small Combo women up-to-date
Adelskalender Big Combo men up-to-date
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelskalender (Skating)
Speed skating