Bart Swings (born 12 February 1991) is a Belgian long track

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

and inline speed skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion on the speed skating mass start. Swings won Belgium's first gold medal in 74 years and is the first Belgian athlete ever to have won two medals in the Winter Olympics.

Career

At his first world championship speed skating event, the

2011 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships The 2011 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 10 and 13 March 2011 in the Max Aicher Arena, Inzell, Germany. The outdoor ice rink was renovated in 2010 and opened an indoor ice rink in 2011. Schedule Medal summar ...

Inzell Inzell is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. It is known for the Eisstadion Inzell, an outdoor artificial ice rink that has been used for many international speed skating championships. It is now an indoor oval. Ge ...

, Germany, he finished 17th in the 5000 m. Bart Swings 2012 (borderless)

At the

2012 World Allround Speed Skating Championships The 2012 World Allround Speed Skating Championships took place on 17 and 18 February 2012, at the Krylatskoye Sport Complex in Moscow, Russia. Defending champions were Ireen Wüst and Ivan Skobrev. Wüst successfully defended her title, and won ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, he finished 9th overall, with a personal record at the 500 m and a national record at the 1500 m. At the

2013 World Allround Speed Skating Championships The 2013 World Allround Speed Skating Championships took place between 16 and 17 February 2013, at Vikingskipet in Hamar, Norway. Sven Kramer won the men's title for a record sixth time. Ireen Wüst won the women's title for the fourth time. Thr ...

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, he finished 3rd overall and took the Bronze medal back home to Belgium. At the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, he won a silver medal in the 1st ever

Mass start {{refimprove, date=February 2018 Mass start is a format of starting in some racing sports such as long-distance running in sport of athletics, speed skating, long-distance cross-country skiing and biathlon. There are usually many competitors in s ...

at the Winter Olympics. Four years later, he won the gold medal in this event. It was Belgium's second-ever gold medal in the Winter Olympics history and the first for an individual male athlete. At the

2019 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships The 2019 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held between 7 and 10 February 2019 at the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell, Germany. Schedule ''All times are local (UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of ...

, he took the lead in the men's mass start but crashed on the final lap, costing him the podium. At the

2021 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships The 2021 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships were held between 11 and 14 February 2021, at Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Schedule ''All times are local (UTC+1).'' Russia doping ban On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Dopin ...

, he won bronze in the men's mass start, winning his first-ever medal in a World Single Distances Speed Skating Championship event. At the 2022 Berlin Marathon, he crossed the finish line in 56:45 minutes and set a new course record. At the same time, he secured his eighth victory at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON inline skating. At the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

, he won seven medals, including four gold. He won two gold, one silver and one bronze at The World Games 2013 in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and two gold and one silver at the

World Games 2017 The 2017 World Games ( pl, Igrzyska Światowe 2017), commonly known as Wrocław 2017 (german: Breslau 2017; sli, Brassel 2017), was the tenth World Games, a major international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events withi ...

in Wroclaw,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. Swings is currently studying for an

engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always requires a non-a ...

at the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

. His brother Maarten Swings also competes in inline speed skating and speed skating, participating in the inline skating world championships and qualifying for the

ISU Speed Skating World Cup The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, ...

Personal records

As of 23 November 2015, his highest ranking on the all-time Adelskalender is 11th.

References

External links

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archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swings, Bart 1991 births Belgian roller skaters Belgian male speed skaters Inline speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of Belgium World Games gold medalists World Games silver medalists World Games bronze medalists People from Herent Living people Competitors at the 2013 World Games Competitors at the 2017 World Games Competitors at the 2022 World Games Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Belgium Olympic silver medalists for Belgium World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Flemish Brabant 20th-century Belgian people 21st-century Belgian people