Speed ​​Skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics

USSR postage stamp dedicated to skating competitions

Speed ​​skating at the Lake Placid at the 1980 Winter Olympics was held February 15–23 at the James B. Sheffield Olympic Speed ​​Skating Oval . Skaters competed on the same oval at the 1932 Winter Olympics . In the summer, the sports complex is designed to host American football matches. For the 1980 Games, the sports facility was renovated. Ice in Lake Placid was considered rather slow, low stands did not protect athletes from the wind.

9 sets of awards were won (more than in any other sport at the Lake Placid Games). Men played medals at distances of 500, 1000, 1500, 5000 and 10,000 meters, and women competed at distances of 500, 1000, 1500 and 3000 meters. Compared to the 1976 Games in Innsbruck , the skating competition program has not changed.

For men, the 21-year-old American Eric Hayden was considered the main favorite, who won in 1977-1980 all the world championships in sprint and classic all-around. Hayden won almost all distances, from 500 to 10,000 meters, and experts believed that the American could win all 5 gold medals at Lake Placid, although this task was very difficult. As a result, Hayden was able to establish an outstanding achievement by winning at all 5 distances, and at 10,000 meters setting a world record (at the longest distance, poor ice quality did not affect the result so much). On the remaining 4 distances, Eric set Olympic records. Eric won all the distances quite confidently, the Norwegian Kai Arne Stensjemmet , who lost 0.99 seconds to the champion, was the most competitive for him at a distance of 5000 meters.

In the women's competition, it was expected that the younger sister of Eric, 20-year-old Beth Hayden , the 1979 world champion in classical all-around, will successfully perform. However, the trauma and too high pressure of the American media did not allow Beth to approach her brother's achievements, she won only bronze at 3000 meters, at the remaining distances she took one fifth and two seventh places. As a result, women did not have such a clear leader, all 4 gold won by different athletes. The distance of 500 meters was won by the 18-year-old German from the GDR Karin Enke . At the next 2 Games (1984 and 1988), Karin will win another 7 medals, becoming the first skater in history to win 8 Olympic awards. Björg Eva Jensen , having unexpectedly won a distance of 3,000 meters, brought Norway the first and, as of the beginning of the 2022 Games in Beijing, the only gold in women's speed skating at the Olympic Games.