Distances
Note that the 500 m is raced twice to counteract any benefits from starting in the inner lane. This is because the skaters switch lanes for each 400 m lap, so a skater using the inner lane on the first 100 m would have a much lower speed going into that inner lane - and can thus negotiate it more easily. Therefore, each skater will start once in the inner lane, and once in the outer lane. The winner is the skater with the least combined time.
The skaters compete in the following distances:
Read more about this topic: World Single Distance Championships
Famous quotes containing the word distances:
“I was surprised by Joe’s asking me how far it was to the Moosehorn. He was pretty well acquainted with this stream, but he had noticed that I was curious about distances, and had several maps. He and Indians generally, with whom I have talked, are not able to describe dimensions or distances in our measures with any accuracy. He could tell, perhaps, at what time we should arrive, but not how far it was.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We then entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The fallen trees were so numerous, that for long distances the route was through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over another fence into a second yard, and so on.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)