Despite its northerly latitude, the natural conditions in Canada are not ideal for skating. Coastal climates in the most populated areas are too mild, and inland, large amounts of snow leave open ice a rarity. Still, when it occurred, natives were known to use "ice-legs", in the Viking style, polished calf bones of animals tied to their feet, to skate on the ice. In 1604, the French explorer Sieur de Monte settled on St. Croix Island, reported their use and copied it along with his party.
Then in the 19th century, masses of immigrants brought skating with them from Europe, and the first race in Canada was held on St. Lawrence River in 1854 between 3 british officers. The first speedskating tournament took place in Kingston, Ontario in 1865 as part of the "Annual Fancy Dress Carnival". Between 1860 and 1870 about a dozen indoor rinks were built in Canada and by 1875 skating in Canada was subdivided into catagories called "fancy", "figure", "stunt", "trick", and "speed". Now, things developed fast, pack races in miles and yards became popular and the best skaters fought matches for money prizes. Like in the US, these were often Irishmen. Hugh McCormick of St. John, New Brunswick, was Canada's first great skater with several world records in the 1880s, including the first mile under 3 minutes, and matches against the great Norwegian champions Axel Paulsen (1890) and Harald Hagen (1892), winning the one and losing the other. Frank Dowd, another Irishman, set world records at 16 and had pro matches against McCormick, but ended his career before he was 20. With his amateurship reinstated, he won the first Canadian amateur championship in 1888.
The Canadian Amateur Skating Association was founded in November 1887, and they joined the ISU in 1894 as the first non-European member. The ISU awarded them the world championship 1897, and the championship was won in grand style by the home favourite Jack McCulloch of Winnipeg, yet another Irishman. Another record-setting Canadian of the 90s was a Torontoan with the evocative name of Harley Davidson. In the early spring days in 1897, it was reported from Dawson City that the Indian Crutzkonutzkosecki (apparently of Polish descent) from Nuklukahyet had skated the 500 m in 44.8 and the 1500 m in 2.20.2, not unbelievable achievements today, but well below the world records at the time.
Concurrently with the growth of ice hockey, Canadian skaters lost their supremacy in the early parts of the new century to a series of top skaters from the USA, but a few amateur contenders like the sprinters Fred Robson and Lot Roe of Toronto and the allrounders James Drury and Russ Wheeler of Montreal and Fred Logan of St. John brought home some honours. However, the women took over the supremacy the men had lost, and Gladys Robinson of Old Orchard SC, Toronto, was the dominant female speedskater in the early 1920s, and from 1925, her clubmate Leila Brooks Potter took over, setting more than a dozen world records. At the olympic games in Lake Placid 1932, she skated an exhibition packstyle 1500 m in 2.54.0, when the world record was still 3.10.4.
It took Olympic games to make the first Canadian skater cross the Atlantic ocean. Charles Gorman of St. John made the trip to Chamonix in 1924, with a 7th place in the 500 m as his best achievement, which he copied in St. Moritz 1928. Gorman also was North American outdoor champion in 1924 and 1927, the last male Canadian to achieve this until 1977. Then Gladys Robinson's brother Ross set a 3 mile world record in 1930. And of course, the Canadian skaters were very successful in the packstyle games in Lake Placid 1932, Alex Hurd of Hamilton, Ontario, Bill Logan of St. John and Frank Stack of Winnipeg winning medals. Stack was quite a character. He had a long and remarkable career, culminating at the OG in St Moritx 1948 with a 6th place in the 500 m as a 42 year old.
But interest in puckless skating was dwindling and so were the funds. Outdoor ovals were closing down and it was decided to send no team to the games in 1936. The level of skating fell dramatically, but Betty Mitchell of Winnipeg held good standards in the late 40s and won three North American championships. Gordon Audley, also of Winnipeg, won a surprise bronze medal in the 500 m at the 1952 Olympic games, and Doreen McLeod Ryan of Edmonton had a long career, winning the North American championship in 1952 and positioning fairly high in the first women's Olympic races in 1960 and '64.
This somewhat faded speedskating power struck the skating world with dismay and disbelief in 1962, when an Australian cyclist who had married into a Canadian citizenship came to Norway to try some skating and after a few weeks of training clocked a 3000 m in 4.37.2, 3 seconds below the world record! And adding insult to injury it was rumoured that he did the race in his wife's panties; she had lent him after an accident while ironing the day before... Had skating finally gone thoroughly to the dogs then? Here was Wazulek, Stiepl, Seyffarth and Pajor all over again, and squared. But as it happened these panties were made of nylon, and they were first artificial textile worn in skating. Probably the incident inspired the famous breakthrough of the nylon suits the following year. His race at once made Enock one of the favourites for the world championship, but a cold stopped him there, and later that year, he had a car accident that killed his wife and left him seriously injured. He came back in 1965 and skated a good world championship with a 13th place overall and two 8ths in the long distances, but later descended down the lists.
1962 also was the first year of the Canadian metric style championships. The official packstyle ones were abandoned after 1968. Outdoor rinks were being held open in Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Calgary, and with more experience in self-paced racing, the level began to build up again in the early 70s, with forerunners like Robert Boucher of Winnipeg (39.9 in the 500 m 1968), Robert Hodges of Saskatoon, Kevin Sirois of Red Deer and Andrew Barron of Calgary. Silvia Burka of Winnipeg had skated well in the Sapporo Olympic games 1972 and in '73 went on to win the junior world championship and finish 4th in the world championship sprint.
In 1974, the Dutch former top skater Jorrit Jorritsma was appointed as the federation's first full time coach, and one of his first decisions was to include a barely 16 year old shorttracker in his team. This fledgeling made his debut in place of the more qualified Barron at the 1975 world championship at Bislett, and in a completely unremarkable fashion. His name was Gaetan Boucher. Later that year, Cathy Priestner of Calgary won the bronze in the sprint world championship and finished 5th in the world championship allround. One year later, she won the olympic silver in the 500 m, Burka won the world championship allround and Elizabeth Appleby of Winnipeg the junior world championship, where Boucher finished 4th among the men, later winning his first senior medal in the 500 m at the world championship allround. It seemed Canada suddenly had a wealth of world class speedskaters to choose from.
Burka continued her success with a world championship sprint in 1977, and could have won the allround as well without a disastrous fall in the 3000 m. Boucher was second behind Heiden in the 1979 and '80 sprint championships, and on schedule to be his successor, but lost the 1981 championship due to a fall and the 1982 one with a poor first 1000 meter. However, he finished 9th in the allround championship in '82, the first Canadian to receive allround honours since Paul Enock. After a poor 1983 season, he returned in 1984 with a vengeance, and secured not only the expected 1000 m olympic gold but also the 1500 m. And in the sprint world championship, where he again spoiled his first 1000 m, he outwitted his opponent in the last one with one of the most thrilling finishes of all time. These achievements brought him the speedskating Oscar for that year, the only Canadian yet to win this award. He half-retired in 1985 after yet another silver behind the new Soviet sprint wonder Zhelezovski, keeping it up in somewhat reduced shape until the Calgary Olympic games 1988.
Gaetan Boucher was one of the most elegant speedskaters of his time, if not ever, and inspired many French-Canadians to take up skating, especially after the first useful Canadian artificial track was opened in his home town in 1978. Jean Pichette and Benoit Lamarche in allround and Jacques and Guy Thibault in sprint, all from Quebec City, made strong bids to reach the top, heralded by the olympic beacon from the upcoming home games in Calgary. Pichette won two junior worlds medals, and Lamarche was the third post-war Canadian to complete a senior allround championship with his 9th place in 1987. The Calgary games were without any considerable success for the home team, but in the Medeo world championship after the games, Pichette finished 5th with 2 bronze medals in the distances, actually fighting for the title until the 10000 m.
After 1988, Canada suffered something of a post-olympic trauma, most of the top skaters disappearing or dropping down the lists. Skating was moving indoors, not only in Calgary, but in the rest of the country as well, from the long track ovals into the short-track rinks, a development which was particularly strong in the Quebec region, who produced few LT skaters from then on, and many great ST ones. But Shelly Rhead of Saskatoon maintained a decent level in women's sprint, and was soon joined by talents like Susan Auch of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Catriona LeMay of Saskatoon, Kevin Scott of Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, Sean Ireland of Mississauga, Ontario and Neal Marshall of Victoria, British Colombia, climbing gradually from modest positions to world record level with excellent training facilities in Calgary.
Since 1994, Canada has been one of the major forces in speedskating, winning 1 world championship allround, 7 sprint world championships, 9 Olympic medals, two of them in gold, 7 distance world championships, and dozens of world records. They won every male sprint world championship 1999-2003, 1 through Mike Ireland, Sean's brother, in 2001 and the 4 others through the new super sprinter Jeremy Wotherspoon from Red Deer, Alberta (born in Humboldt, Sasakatchewan), catching up with Zhelezovski's record 6 championships. In the single distance championships they have gold medals every year since 1998 except 2000, the 7 wins achieved by 4 different skaters, Catriona LeMay Doan, Sylvain Bouchard, Jeremy Wotherspoon, and Clara Hughes, a converted cyclist from Winnipeg, having won 2 bronze medals in cycling at the OG 1996. LeMay-Doan was the second woman after Bonnie Blair to defend an Olympic title in the 500 m, and she also won the sprint world championships both Olympic seasons. From 1995 to 2002, Canada was represented every year in the men's allround finals, culminating with Dustin Molicki's 5th places overall the last two seasons. But the male allrounders seem to have lost the edge. Breakthrough men like Molicki from Calgary and the 3000 m world record setter Steven Elm from Red Deer, Alberta, don't maintain their form. Maybe last year's junior world champion Justin Warszylewicz from Regina, Saskatchewan, can prevail. The female allrounders are sharper than ever under their Chinese coach Wang Xiuli, giving the formerly invincible Germans a serious run for the skating hegemony. After Burka's last top achievement in 1980 the Canadian women only sporadically appeared in the final distances the next years, and always in lowly positions. But then Cindy Klassen from Winnipeg, who made her first achievement of note by winning the 1000 m at the junior world championship in Geithus 1999, climbed to 4th place in 2001, further to a silver the next year and finally was crowned allround world champion 2003. With Kristina Groves from Ottawa in 4th and Hughes in 6th, winning the 5000 m, the championship was a great success for the Canadians, who are back where they left off a hundred years ago, on top.
Statistics:
Canadian records:
Mark Nielsen 9.45 Salt Lake City 10 Jan 2003
Jeremy Wotherspoon 34.37 Calgary 6 Dec 2003
Jeremy Wotherspoon 1.07.72 Salt Lake City 1 Des 2001
Dustin Molicki 1.46.00 Salt Lake City 19 Feb 2002
Steven Elm 3.43.76 Calgary 17 Mar 2000
Dustin Molicki 6.26.29 Salt Lake City 9 Feb 2002
Dustin Molicki 13.34.58 Calgary 21 Des 2001
Jeremy Wotherspoon 137,230 Calgary 18-19 Jan 2003
34.41 - 1.08.41 - 34.49 - 1.08.25
Steven Elm 150.099 Calgary 17-18 Mar 2000
37.59 - 3.43.76 - 1.47.00 - 6.35.50
Dustin Molicki 153,474 Calgary 2-4 Jan 2001
37.19 - 1.47.40 - 6.33.78 - 13.42.12
Catriona LeMay-Doan 10.33 Salt Lake City 10 Jan 2003
Catriona LeMay-Doan 37.22 Calgary 9 Des 2001
Catriona LeMay-Doan 1.14.50 Salt Lake City 10 Mar 2001
Cindy Klassen 1.54.63 Salt Lake City 26 Jan 2003
Cindy Klassen 3.58.97 Salt Lake City 10 Feb 2002
Clara Hughes 6.53.53 Salt Lake City 23 Feb 2002
(Nicole Slot 15.16.47 Calgary 23 Mar 2002)
Catriona LeMay-Doan 150.070 Salt Lake City 1-2 Des 2001
37.55 - 1.15.03 - 37.40 - 1.15.21
Cindy Klassen 155.576 Calgary 15-17 Mar 2001
38.79 - 1.55.27 - 1.15.28 - 4.04.34
Cindy Klassen 159.723 Salt Lake City 25-26 Jan 2003
38.84 - 4.02.37 - 1.54.63 - 7.02.78
World championships allround: 3
World champions allround: 3
Sprint world championships: 9
Sprint world champions: 5
World championships single distances: 8
World champions single distances: 4
Male overall championships: 7
Male overall champions: 4
Female overall championships: 5
Female overall champions: 3
Male allround championships: 1
Male allround champions: 1
Female allround championships: 2
Female allround champions: 2
Total championships: 20
Total champions: 9: McCulloch, Burka, Boucher, LeMay-Doan, Bouchard,
Wotherspoon, Ireland, Klassen, Hughes..
Canadian distance winners in international championships:
1.Jeremy Wotherspoon 14, 11 in SWC and 3 in WSD
2.Catriona LeMay-Doan 12, 9 in SWC and 3 in WSD
3.Gaetan Boucher 6, 2 in WCh and 4 in SWC
4.Jack McCulloch 3 in WCh
Sylvia Burka 3, 1 in WCh and 2 in SWC
6.Clara Hughes 2, 1 in WCh and 1 in WSD
7.Cathy Priestner 1 in the 500 m in SWC Gothenburg 1975 (43.44)
Kevin Scott 1 in the 1000 m in SWC Calgary 1994 (1.12.69)
Sylvain Bouchard 1 in the 1000 m in WSD Calgary 1998 (1.09.60)
Thus 8 distance winners in all, and they have won 43 distances, 5 in the male world championship (2 in the 500, 1 in each of the 1500, 5000 and 10000 m), 2 in the world championship for women (1 1500 m and 1 5000 m), 16 in the sprint world championship for men (8 in the 500, 8 in the 1000 m), 12 in the sprint world championship for women (10 in the 500 and 2 in the 1000 m), and 7 in the world championship single distances 4 for men (2 in the 500 m and 2 in the 1000 m) and 4 for women (3 in the 500 m and 1 in the 5000 m).
Canadian top 6 achievements in the Olympic games:
| GOLD | Silver | bronze | 4. | 5. | 6. | |
| 500 m men | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| 1000 m men | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1500 m men | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 5000 m men | 1 | |||||
| 10000 m men | 1 | |||||
| Overall, men | ||||||
| Total, men | 2 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 500 m women | 2 | 3 | 2 | |||
| 1000 m women | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1500 m women | 1 | |||||
| 3000 m women | 1 | |||||
| 5000 m women | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Total, women | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Total | 4 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
Canadian skaters in international championships and Olympic games:
1.Gaetan Boucher 24 times
Catriona LeMay-Doan 24
3.Sylvia Burka 23
4.Susan Auch 22
5.Michael Ireland 19
6.Jeremy Wotherspoon 18
7.Kevin Marshall 15
8.Neal Marshall 13
Patrick Bouchard 13
Steven Elm 13
11.Sylvie Daigle 12
Natalie Grenier 12
Kristina Groves 12
14.Cindy Klassen 11
15.Jacques Thibault 10
Ariane Loignon 10
Michelle Morton 10
Cindy Overland 10
Mark Knoll 10
20.Guy Thibault 9
Kevin Scott 9
Sylvain Bouchard 9
Kevin Overland-Crockett 9
Jason Parker 9
25.Gayle Gordon 8
Kathy Vogt 8
Shelley Rhead 8
Ingrid Liepa 8
29.Robert Hodges 7
Cathy Priestner 7
Brenda Webster 7
Benoit Lamarche 7
Linda Johnson-Blair 7
Dustin Molicki 7
35.Doreen McCannel 6
Pat Durnin 6
Jean Pichette 6
Chantal Coté 6
Pat Kelly 6
Krisy Myers 6
Clara Hughes 6
42.Ralph Olin 5
Paul Enock 5
Kevin Sirois 5
Gerard Cassan 5
John Cassidy 5
Anne Girard 5
Robert Dubreuil 5
Nicole Slot 5
Tara Risling 5
51.Gordon Audley 4
Jennifer Jackson 4
Elizabeth Appleby 4
Tom Overend 4
Craig Webster 4
Daniel Turcotte 4
Sean Ireland 4
Isabelle Douchet 4
Shannon Rempel 4
James Monson 4
61.Frank Stack 3
Craig Mackay 3
Doreen Ryan 3
Frank Ludtke 3
Andrew Barron 3
Nathalie Lambert 3
Caroline Maheux 3
Susan Stewart-Massitti 3
Kim Weger 3
Arne Dankers 3
71.Charles Gorman 2
William Logan 2
Alexander Hurd 2
Harry Smyth 2
Pat Underhill 2
John Sands 2
Wendy Thompson 2
Marcia Parsons 2
Cheryl Rey 2
Gordon Goplen 2
Gregor Jelonek 2
Michael Hall 2
Sylvie Cantin 2
Eric Brisson 2
Kerry Simpson 2
Jay Morrison 2
86.Jack K McCulloch 1
John Davidson 1
C E Greene 1
Tom Moore 1
W H Merritt 1
Albert E Pilkie 1
A Lee 1
Ross Robinson 1
Leopold Sylvestre 1
Herb Flack 1
Marion McCarthy 1
Hattie Donaldson-Briggs 1
Gladys Ferguson 1
Thomas White 1
Abraham Hardy 1
Betty Mitchell 1
Lawrence Mason 1
Margaret Robb 1
Joanne Fath 1
Robert Boucher 1
Peter Williamson 1
Judy Dietiker 1
Darryl Smith 1
Gary Goplen 1
Don Bumstead 1
Cheryl Prendergast 1
Denis Gagnon 1
Marie-Pierre Lamarche 1
Kathy Gordon 1
Robert Tremblay 1
Marcel Tremblay 1
Cameron Mackay 1
Leah Nattrass 1
Philippe Marois 1
Jamie Ivey 1
Brock Miron 1
Jean-René Belanger 1 (altogether 123)