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

at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

, was held from 9 February to 18 February. Nine events were contested at

James B. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink The James B. Sheffield Olympic Skating Rink is an outdoor artificial ice track for speed skating in Lake Placid, New York, United States (US). It hosted the speed skating events at the 1932 (plus six of twelve ice hockey matches) and 1980 Winter ...

Medal summary

Medal table

The United States led the medal table with five gold medals, thanks to

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the ...

's sweep of the men's events, which made him the first, and as of 2022, only, athlete to win five gold medals at a Winter Games. Heiden led the individual medal table, while the most successful woman was Nataliya Petrusyova of the Soviet Union, who won one gold and one bronze medal.

Leah Poulos-Mueller Leah Jean Poulos-Mueller (''née'' Poulos, born October 5, 1951) is an American retired speed skater. She competed at the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and won two silver medals in 1980 and one in 1976. She garnered more than 65 Olympic, ...

of the US won two silver medals.

Men's events

Women's events

Records

All previous Olympic records were broken in Lake Placid, along with one world record, from

in the final event, the men's 10000 metres.

Participating NOCs

Nineteen nations competed in the speed skating events at Lake Placid. China and Romania made their debuts in the sport. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{Speed skating at the Winter Olympics 1980 Winter Olympics events

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1980 in speed skating Olympics, 1980