Stefan Groothuis (born 23 November 1981) is a Dutch retired

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. ...

. He is the World Sprint Champion for 2012 and the gold medal winner in the 1000 metres at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Career

Groothuis, a specialist in the middle distances (1000 and 1500 metres), had his international breakthrough in 2005. In that year he reached a second spot during the

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. Every year during the winter season, a number of competitions on different ...

meeting in

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 ...

competing in the 1000 metres. This earned him a nomination for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. During the Dutch Single Distance Championships in December 2005, he switched this nomination into a qualification by placing fourth behind

Jan Bos Jan Bos (born 29 March 1975) is a Dutch former long track speed skating, speedskater and sprint track cycling, cyclist. In the late 1990s he was world champion in speed skating and he competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. Sp ...

Erben Wennemars Egbert Rolf "Erben" Wennemars (born 1 November 1975) is a Dutch former speed skater. He specialized in the sprint and middle distances of 500, 1000 and 1500 meters, and set six world records during his career. Speed skating career Wennemars was ...

, and

Beorn Nijenhuis Beorn Nijenhuis (born 2 April 1984) is a Dutch speed skater, who represented the Netherlands at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Born in Canada, where he started speed skating, he eventually moved to the Netherlands at the age of 13. A year later he re ...

, who all qualified as well. In January, 2006, Groothuis surprisingly became the Dutch national sprint champion, finishing first in two 500 metres and two 1000 metres races, outsprinting common names like

Gerard van Velde Gerard Pieter Hendrik van Velde (born 30 November 1971) is a Dutch retired speed skater who specialised in sprinting. He won an Olympic gold medal in 2002. Biography Van Velde was considered the best Dutch sprinter during the early 1990s, but d ...

, Nijenhuis, and Wennemars. A month later at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Groothuis would finish in eighth position in the 1000 metres. His time of 1:09.57 was 0.68 behind the winner

Shani Davis Shani Earl Davis (; born August 13, 1982) is an American former speed skater. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first African American athlete to win a gold medal in an individual event at the Olympic Winter Games, w ...

. In the 2010-2011 World Cup season, Groothuis would win the 1000 metre overall World Cup, dethroning perennial winner

. He would also lead the 2011-2012 1000 metre standings going into the final race, but would be beaten out in the season finale by Davis and also just edged for the season 1000 title by Davis as a result. At the 2012 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships in Calgary, Groothuis won the gold medal. His point total of 136.810 broke the

world record 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 ...

for the sprint combination held by

Jeremy Wotherspoon Jeremy Lee Wotherspoon (born October 26, 1976) is a Canadian speed skater, widely recognized as one of the greatest speedskating sprinters of all time. In December 2003, Wotherspoon became the most successful male skater in World Cup history whe ...

. He also won gold in the 1000 metres at the World Single Distance Championships that year.

Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com

World record

Tournament overview

source:

World Cup overview

:'' – = Did not participate'' :''(b) = Division B'' :'' DQ = Disqualified'' :''DNF = Did not finish''

Medals won

Career highlights

* 2001, 6th, Junior World Championships * 2002, 6th, 1000 metres, Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2002, 7th, Dutch National Sprint Championships * 2003, 4th, 1000 metres and 8th, 500 metres, Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2003, 6th, Dutch National Sprint Championships * 2004, 6th, 500 metres and 9th, 1000 metres, Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2004, 8th, Dutch National Sprint Championships * 2005, 5th, 1500 metres; 6th, 500 metres; and 7th, 1000 metres; Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2005, 4th, Dutch National Sprint Championships * 2006, 4th, 1000 metres and 8th, 1500 metres, Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2006, 1st, Dutch National Sprint Championships * 2006, 8th, 1000 metres,

* 2006, 9th, 1000 metres, World Cup * 2007, 2nd, 1000 metres; 6th, 500 metres; and 8th, 1500 metres; Dutch National Single Distance Championships * 2014, 1st, 1000 metres,

Source: www.sskating.com

References

External links

*
Stefan Groothuis
at SpeedSkatingStats.com * *
Stefan Groothuis
at SchaatsStatistieken.nl * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groothuis, Stefan 1981 births Dutch male speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of the Netherlands People from Brummen Living people Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people Sportspeople from Gelderland