Frequently Asked Questions

What is the history of SpeedskatingResults.com?

The SpeedskatingResults.com database was started to keep track of various records for the announcer's (speaker's) use during competitions held at the Utah Olympic Oval. The database contents were first made available to the public during the 2004-2005 season. During the 2006-2007 season, the web site started tracking the complete results for a select set of competitions. That expanded during the 2007-2008 season to all tracking long track results worldwide.

What are those two and three character codes following a skater's name?

The first letter indicates if the skater is male or female (M for men, L for ladies). The remaining portion is the skater's age category.

For senior and younger skaters, the categories are based on the skater's age at the start of the season (1 July). The Masters age categories reflect the IMSSC definition of racing age as being the age reached at any point during the season (1 July - 30 June of the next year).

Since the age categories are calculated from a skater's date of birth, it is not possible to compute them if that information is not in the database. In those cases the category will be a question mark (M? or L?).

How can I link directly to results for a specific track? Or a Top 20 List?

For pages that are the result of a query (results filtered for a single track, World Top 20 lists, etc.) the URL in the browser's address bar does not contain enough information to allow that page to be bookmarked or linked to directly from another site. On those pages a button will be present at the top right. You can right-click on that button and select "Copy Link" to copy the full URL address to the clipboard. Or just click the button and the full URL will appear in your browser's address bar.

What is the difference between Masters International Records and Masters Bests?

Masters International Records are the official records recognized by the IMSSC. The IMSSC defines the conditions under which masters records can be set. Usually the time must be skated in an officially sanctioned race or in a Masters national championship (similar to the ISU requirements for recognizing World Records).

The Masters Bests are simply a collection of the fastest times skated by any Masters skater in any competition.

Why are there no results for competitions at certain ovals?

I attempt to track results for all long track metric competitions for which I am aware. Results are obtained a number of ways: competitions at which I am present (basically anything at the Utah Olympic Oval), results submitted via email (ovalstats@q.com), results obtained from an oval's web site, and finally results from other sites.

Do you have the split times for a specific race?

I do not track split times for the races that appear in the database, not even those here at the Utah oval.

Can I get a plain-text copy of results?

There are two ways to obtain plain-text versions of the results. You can click on the Text-Only links in the navigation bar on the left side of results pages to get the results in plain-text form. You can also subscribe to the Full Results RSS feed to have the same information delivered to your RSS reader. Either way the results are provided without any fancy styling. The columns are tab-separated, making it easy to cut and paste the results into a spreadsheet or text file.

When copying from the RSS feed to a spreadsheet or word processor, you can just use your application's Paste function and everything will be nicely placed into columns. When copying directly from the web site itself, you'll need to use the "Paste Special" command and select "Paste as Unicode Text" or "Paste as Unformatted Text" when inserting the results (the actual option may vary depending upon what application you are using).

So what other results sites are there?

Probably the single largest collection of results is that on the SpeedskatingNews.info web site. The collection there goes back much further than my own site.

What about other sites to find skater information?

An excellent site is Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database. For Dutch skaters check out the KNSB's SARA database. Frans van Bakel has helped correct the entries for many Dutch skaters and maintains an alltime list of Dutch skaters. There's also Machiel Smit's SchaatsStatistieken.nl. Some national federations have good information on their skaters, others have little or none. Check the ISU web page for links to member federations.