Jeremy Wotherspoon

Jeremy Wotherspoon

Jeremy Wotherspoon at a world cup speedskating in Heerenveen, the Netherlands
Personal information
Born	October 26, 1976 (1976-10-26) Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	85 kg (190 lb; 13.4 st)
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Men's speed skating Competitor for Canada Olympic Games Silver 1998 Nagano 500 m World Championships (Sprint) Gold 1999 Calgary Sprint Gold 2000 Seoul Sprint Gold 2002 Hamar Sprint Gold 2003 Calgary Sprint Silver 1998 Berlin Sprint Silver 2004 Nagano Sprint Silver 2005 Salt Lake City Sprint Silver 2008 Heerenveen Sprint Bronze 2001 Inzell Sprint World Championships (Distances) Gold 2003 Berlin 500 m Gold 2004 Seoul 500 m Gold 2008 Nagano 500 m Gold 2001 Salt Lake City 1000 m Silver 2001 Salt Lake City 500 m Silver 1998 Calgary 1000 m Silver 2004 Seoul 1000 m Bronze 1998 Calgary 500 m Bronze 2000 Nagano 500 m Bronze 2005 Inzell 500 m

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

Wotherspoon was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan but grew up in Red Deer, Alberta. 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. In December 2003, Jeremy became the most successful male skater in World Cup history when he claimed the 49th victory of his career.

Career

Early career

Wotherspoon has dominated sprint events and held world records in both the 500 m and 1000 m distances. He is a four-time World Sprint Champion, and a 13-time World Cup Overall Champion on the 500 m and the 1000 m. During the 1998 Winter Olympics games in Nagano, Wotherspoon won a silver medal in the 500 m, despite being the favorite.

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. The following 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. 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 ."

Final Olympics and Retirement

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

Following his time in Norway, Wotherspoon set a world record in the 500 m event on November 9, 2007. However, he later suffered an arm injury while skating in the 2008-09 World Cup season. On December 27, 2009, Jeremy 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. Despite this, Wotherspoon placed 9th and 14th in the Olympic events, respectively.

Wotherspoon announced his retirement from speed skating on December 6, 2009, promising to do so following the season.

Records

Personal bests

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Distance	Time	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	34.03	9 Nov 2007	Salt Lake City	Current World Record
1000 m	1:07.03	11 Nov 2007	Salt Lake City
1500 m	1:46.18	28 Dec 2005	Calgary
3000 m	4:02.17	26 Oct 2002	Calgary
5000 m	7:37.36	10 Mar 1996	Calgary

World records

Jeremy Wotherspoon at the 2008 World Cup in Hamar.

Over the course of his career, Wotherspoon skated 10 official world records:

Distance	Result	Date	Location
1000 m	1:10.16	29 December 1997	Calgary
1000 m	1:09.09	15 January 1999	Calgary
500 m	34.76	20 February 1999	Calgary
1000 m	1:08.66	20 February 1999	Calgary
1000 m	1:08.49	12 January 2000	Calgary
500 m	34.63	29 January 2000	Calgary
1000 m	1:08.35	18 March 2000	Calgary
1000 m	1:08.28	11 March 2001	Salt Lake City
1000 m	1:07.72	1 December 2001	Salt Lake City
500 m	34.03	9 November 2007	Salt Lake City

Since November 23, 1997, Wotherspoon has held the world record for the sprint combination: the point summation of four races (2x 500 m and 2x 1000 m) skated consecutively within two or three days, like those calculated for the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships. He improved on his own record five times since and his current world record is 135.355 (34.03, 34.14, 1:07.34, 1:07.03), accomplished during World Cup races at the Utah Olympic Oval in November 2007.

Finally, Wotherspoon has skated the six fastest laps (400 m) ever, 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).

External links

• Jeremy Wotherspoon at www.skateresults.com
• Photos of Jeremy Wotherspoon

Awards
Preceded by Sven Kramer	Oscar Mathisen Award 2007	Succeeded by Shani Davis