Jeremy Wotherspoon

Jeremy Lee Wotherspoon (born October 26, 1976) is a Canadian speed skater, widely recognized as one of the greatest speedskating sprinters of all time.[1][2][3]

Jeremy Wotherspoon

Wotherspoon at a World Cup speed skating event in Heerenveen, Netherlands
Personal information
Born	October 26, 1976 Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	85 kg (187 lb)
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Men's speed skating Representing  Canada International speed skating competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Sprint Championships 4 4 1 World Distance Championships 4 3 3 Total 8 8 4 Olympic Games 1998 Nagano 500 m World Sprint Championships 1999 Calgary Sprint 2000 Seoul Sprint 2002 Hamar Sprint 2003 Calgary Sprint 1998 Berlin Sprint 2004 Nagano Sprint 2005 Salt Lake City Sprint 2008 Heerenveen Sprint 2001 Inzell Sprint World Single Distance Championships 2003 Berlin 500 m 2004 Seoul 500 m 2008 Nagano 500 m 2001 Salt Lake City 1000 m 2001 Salt Lake City 500 m 1998 Calgary 1000 m 2004 Seoul 1000 m 1998 Calgary 500 m 2000 Nagano 500 m 2005 Inzell 500 m

In December 2003, Wotherspoon became the most successful male skater in World Cup history when he claimed the 49th victory of his career.[4] He finished his career with a record 67 World Cup wins at 500 and 1,000 metres.[3]

Wotherspoon broke the 500 m world record on three occasions. He broke the 1000 m world record seven times.

Career

Early career

Wotherspoon was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, but grew up in Red Deer, Alberta. There he first became involved in speedskating after signing up for a power skating class in an effort to improve his ice hockey abilities. Initially, Wotherspoon competed in both short track and long track events. He eventually chose long track as a specialty and climbed through the junior ranks, moving to Calgary to train with the Canadian national team at the age of 17. Wotherspoon soon won medals on the World Cup circuit, with his first victories in 1997.

Wotherspoon dominated sprint events and held world records in both the 500 m and 1000 m distances. He is a four-time World Sprint Champion, taking the title four times in five years between 1999 and 2003,[3] and a 13-time World Cup Overall Champion on the 500 m and the 1000 m. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Wotherspoon won a silver medal in the 500 m, despite being the favorite.[2]

Four years later, at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Wotherspoon fell at the start of his run during the 500 m, and finished 13th in the 1000 m event.[5] The next Olympic Games in Turin in 2006, he failed to reach the podium once again, placing 9th in the 500 m event and 11th in the 1000 m.[6] Wotherspoon, disappointed, decided to spend time alone on Mausund, a remote Norwegian island near the Arctic Circle. When asked whether he was anxious over skating after a season away from the sport, he stated "I'm more interested to see how quickly I can get back up."[7]

2010 Olympics and first retirement

Jeremy Wotherspoon at the Essent ISU World Cup at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.

Following his time in Norway, Wotherspoon set a world record in the 500 m event on November 9, 2007.[8] However, he later suffered an arm injury while skating in the 2008–09 World Cup season.[9] On December 27, 2009, Wotherspoon officially secured his spot for the 500 m and 1000 m events at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver after finishing first in the Canadian trials held at the Calgary Olympic Oval.[10] Despite this, Wotherspoon placed 9th and 14th in the Olympic events, respectively.[11][12]

Wotherspoon announced his retirement from speed skating on December 6, 2009, promising to do so following the Vancouver Olympics and the 2010 season end.[1]

Comeback

Wotherspoon announced that he was returning to speedskating in June 2013 with the aim of competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[13] He failed, however, to qualify in his signature event, the 500 m sprint, and was not named to Canada's Olympic team.[14]

Post-retirement

Following his initial retirement in 2010, Wotherspoon coached at an academy in Inzell, Germany, training skaters from countries without coaches, facilities or formal programs. He returned there after his 2014 comeback attempt, then moved to a developmental team in Norway. In April 2016 Wotherspoon became the sprint coach for Norway's national team, with the aim of ending that nation's three-decade Olympic medal drought in long track's sprint events.[3]

Personal life

Wotherspoon was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, but grew up in Red Deer, Alberta. He is married to Canadian former speed skater and 2006 Olympian Kim Weger; the couple has a daughter, Ella.[3]

Records

Personal bests

Personal records[15]
Men's speed skating
Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	34.03	November 9, 2007	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	Former world record[16]
1000 m	1:07.03	November 11, 2007	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1500 m	1:46.18	December 28, 2005	Olympic Oval, Calgary
3000 m	4:02.17	October 26, 2002	Olympic Oval, Calgary
5000 m	7:37.36	March 10, 1996	Olympic Oval, Calgary

World records

Discipline	Time	Date	Location
500 m	34.76	February 20, 1999	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	34.63	January 29, 2000	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	34.03	November 9, 2007	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
2 x 500 m	68.310	March 15, 2008	Olympic Oval, Calgary
1000 m	1:10.16	December 29, 1997	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	1:09.09	January 15, 1999	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	1:08.66	February 20, 1999	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	1:08.49	January 12, 2000	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	1:08.35	March 18, 2000	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	1:08.28	March 11, 2001	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
	1:07.72	December 1, 2001	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Sprint combination	141.995	November 22–23, 1997	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	140.050	January 15–16, 1999	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	138.310	February 20–21, 1999	Olympic Oval, Calgary
	137.285	December 1–2, 2002	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
	137.270	January 11–12, 2003	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
	137.230	January 18–19, 2003	Olympic Oval, Calgary

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com.[17]

From November 23, 1997 to January 29, 2012 Wotherspoon held the world record for the sprint combination: the point summation of four races (2x500 m and 2x1000 m) skated consecutively within two days, like those calculated for the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.[18] He improved on his own record five times since. His fastest combination of 135.355 (34.03, 34.14, 1:07.34, 1:07.03), accomplished during World Cup races at the Utah Olympic Oval over three days in November 2007 was not an official world record but has still not been bettered as of March 2019.

Furthermore, until November 2015, nearly 6 years after his retirement, Wotherspoon had skated the six fastest laps (400 m) ever,[19] the fastest of which was a 24.32 s lap in his first 1000 m race in Salt Lake City in November 2007. His average speed in that lap was 59.21 kilometres per hour (36.79 mph).

References

1. "TSN Sports News & Headlines | Score Results, Standings | Schedules". Ctvolympics.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jeremy Wotherspoon". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
3. Day, Gavin (November 22, 2016). "Canadian skating great Wotherspoon lends a hand to Norway". CBC Sports. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
4. "Wotherspoon skates to record World Cup win - CBC Sports - Sporting news, opinion, scores, standings, schedules". Cbc.ca. 2003-12-13. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
5. "Luge : Images" (PDF). La84foundation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
6. "Speed Skating : Competition Schedule" (PDF). La84foundation.org. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
7. "Wotherspoon's retreat | Toronto Star". Thestar.com. 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
8. "Jeremy Wotherspoon". Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
9. "Article". canada.com. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
10. Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
11. "Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Video Medals News". Vancouver2010.com. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
12. "Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Video Medals News". Vancouver2010.com. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
13. "Canadian speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon attempting return - Olympics - CBC". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
14. https://calgaryherald.com/sports/Jeremy+Wotherspoon+Sochi+dreams+over+after+falls+short+Saturday/9331662/story.html
15. "Jeremy Wotherspoon". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
17. "Jeremy Wotherspoon". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
18. "Evo". Evertstenlund.se. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
19. "fly". Evertstenlund.se. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.

External links

• Jeremy Wotherspoon at the International Skating Union
• Jeremy Wotherspoon at the International Olympic Committee
• Jeremy Wotherspoon at the Canadian Olympic Committee
• Jeremy Wotherspoon at the Olympic Channel
• Jeremy Wotherspoon at skateresults.com at the Wayback Machine (archived November 20, 2008)
• Photos of Jeremy Wotherspoon at fotos.desg.de at the Wayback Machine (archived March 9, 2007)