Tucker Fredricks (born April 16, 1984) is an American

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 the US record holder in the 500 meter event. He competed at the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Winter Olympics. Fredricks was born in

Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat and largest city in the county. It is a principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin, Metropolitan Statistical Area and is included in the Madison–Jane ...

, where he graduated in 2002 from

Joseph A. Craig High School Joseph A. Craig High School is a public high school located in the city of Janesville, Wisconsin. Craig, a part of the School District of Janesville, has a student enrollment of approximately 1,800. Located on the east side of Janesville, it is n ...

. He began skating in 1994 when a friend of his father took him skating in lieu of playing

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be winning the gold medal in 500m at the 2003 World Junior Championships. On November 17, 2007, at the World Cup Race in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Fredricks beat the previous American 500m record (34.42) which was originally held by 2002 Olympic gold medalist

Casey Fitzrandolph Casey J. FitzRandolph (born January 21, 1975) is an American speed skater. In 1997, FitzRandolph won the bronze medal at the World Sprint Championships in Hamar. He won another bronze medal in 2001 at the World Single Distance Championships on ...

, with a time of 34.31.

Current record

Career wins

* 1st, 500m 2003 World Junior Speedskating Championships * 3rd, 500m 2002 World Junior Speedskating Championships * 1st, overall 2002 U.S. Junior Speedskating Championships * 1st, overall 2003 U.S. Junior Speedskating Championships * 1st, overall 2003 U.S. Junior Speedskating Championships * 25th, 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Men’s 500m * 12th, 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Men’s 500m (World Cup overall 500m champion) * 26th, 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Men’s 500m

Highlights

Fredericks has been a World Cup 500m medalist winner 30 times (11 times gold, six times silver and 13 times bronze). In addition, in 2007 he won the bronze for the World Single Distance Championships, and was the World Cup overall 500m champion.

References

External links

*
ISU profile
* * * *
Photos of Tucker Fredricks

Tucker's U.S. Olympic Team bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fredricks, Tucker 1984 births Living people American male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of the United States Sportspeople from Janesville, Wisconsin Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Joseph A. Craig High School alumni