The world’s best speed skating athletes gathered in Calgary over the weekend to compete in the second ISU Speed Skating World Cup, heading into the 2026 Winter Olympics being held in Italy.

The competition couldn’t be more fierce, or important.

While the Canadian Nations held at the end of October at the Olympic Oval helped determine the shape of Team Canada, the World Cup held between Nov. 21 and 23 was one of four competitions that would define how many athletes from each nation would go on to Milan to compete in February.

Olympian Nick Thometz, Chairman of the ISU Speed Skating Committee, said that how many quota spots a country would earn was defined by its performances over at the World Cups by both points accumulated through competitions and racing time.

“There are seven spots that are earned by time ranking. So what’s crucial? Typically, Salt Lake and Calgary are the fastest ovals in the world, so most likely the times for the time ranking will probably come from either Salt Lake or Calgary this weekend,” he said.

Already during the weekend competition, competitors were setting records on the ice for both personal, track, and national bests.

The USA’s Casey Dawson set an Olympic Oval record for the men’s 5000 metres on Nov. 21, with a time of 6:01.84, while the 3000 metres races saw numerous personal bests achieved up and down the scoreboard.

The speed, however, also meant several crashes.

“We had numerous falls today in the last inner curve of the 500 for the men. People are beginning the season dealing with that, the speed when you’re at the fastest tracks in the world for your first two stops,” said Thometz.

“The level of the athletes’ performances between Salt Lake and Calgary have been something that we’ve never seen before.”

He said the benefit of that level of athleticism was that people who might not have checked out speed skating before would get to see something really special, leading up to and at the Olympics.

“They can not only get to know the Canadian skaters, but they might be able to see the face of other skaters from around the world that they’ll say, ‘I saw them in Calgary at the World Cup or on TV,’ or whatever it might be,” said Thometz.

“It gives people a little more perspective and a little bit more being engaged.”

Calgarian Ted-Jan Bloemen placed third in the Men’s 5000 metres, with a time of 6:02.261, and Anders Johnson fifth in the 500 metres with a time of 34.462 seconds, and seventh in the 1000 metres with a time of 1:08.072.

For live results, see speedskating.ca/international-event/calgary2025.

Photos from the 2025 ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary