Adelskalender (skating)

The Adelskalender in skating is a ranking for long track speed skating based on skaters' all-time personal records for certain distances. As in samalog competitions, the skater's time (measured in seconds) for each distance is divided in 500 metre averages, truncated (not rounded) to 3 decimal places, and the results are then added up – the lower the sum, the better. The samalog system was introduced in 1928 in Norway, replacing ranking points in the traditional 4 distance championships, but can of course also be used to reconstruct scores based on personal records that were set before the samalog system was invented.

The classical Adelskalender consists of the Allround Championships distances:

Similar rankings in many other combinations are maintained by enthusiasts and available on the Internet.

Calculation

As an example, the points for the current leader in the Adelskalendern ranking Shani Davis are calculated as follows:

Distance Time Seconds Divided by Points
500m 34.78 34.78 1 34.78
1500m 1:41.04 101.04 3 33.68
5000m 6:10.49 370.49 10 37.049
10000m 13:05.94 785.94 20 39.297
Total 144.806

Caveats

The Adelskalender score is calculated over a skater's entire career and not for a single tournament. Theoretically, this would make it possible for a skater to lead the Adelskalender without ever having set a 4 distance championships samalog record, or even having won - or participated in - such a tournament.

Speed skating records have improved dramatically over the years due to a combination of larger participation, introduction of professionalism, improvements in training and selection, and, especially, technical developments, distorting the comparative accomplishments of skaters over time.[1] For comparison, the ranking leader on 1 January 1900 (Jaap Eden) had a score of 202.226,[2] "averaging" 35.6 km/h. In 1925 Oscar Mathisen led with 192.860[3] (37.3 km/h), in 1950 Åke Seyffarth led with 188.678[4] (38.2 km/h), in 1975 Ard Schenk led with 166.241[5] (43.3 km/h), and in 2000 Rintje Ritsma led with 150.720[6] (47.8 km/h).

Among major technical developments were the introduction of artificial (refrigerated) 400 m ovals, the first opening in Gothenburg in 1958, aerodynamics suits in 1976 (by Franz Krienbühl), indoor, climate-controlled ovals in 1986, and the clap skate in 1996.[1] Also, over time, more high altitude skating rinks have been built; the lower air pressure at higher altitude greatly benefits the skater's speed -the rule of thumb is 0.1 points at each distance for every 100 m of increased altitude- and world records generally are set at high altitude.[7]

Even the ranking points of concurrent skaters can be strongly affected by the opportunity skaters have to train and compete on fast rinks. For example, before the 1960s, skaters were dependent on long periods of frost, less common at more southerly latitudes. The effect of access to high altitude rinks was especially notable from 1973 to 1986, when most world records were set at Medeo in Kazakhstan, a rink at 1,691 m that also enjoyed an unusual all-around tailwind, but was rarely accessible to non-Soviet skaters.[8] In 1977–78, the Adelskalender top 10[5] consisted almost entirely of times set at Medeo, while several skaters in the top 10 never reached the podium at international meets. Currently, the two fastest speed skating rinks are, by a long way, the high altitude covered ovals at Calgary and Salt Lake City, both in North America. Indeed, after the 2014–15 season, 65 of the last 67 new world distance records and the 264 best times ever on the men's 1000 m were recorded at one of these two venues.[9][10]

Current Adelskalenders

Men

This table is correct as of 20 November 2015.[11] Times in bold are the current world records at that distance. For comparison: the world record big combination (similar to the men's Adelskalender samalog, only for times in one weekend) is 145.742, by Shani Davis.

Pos Name Country 500 m 1500 m 5000 m 10000 m Samalog
1 Davis, ShaniShani Davis  United States 34.78 1:41.04 6:10.49 13:05.94 144.806
2 Kramer, SvenSven Kramer  Netherlands 36.17 1:43.54 6:03.32 12:41.69 145.099
3 Hedrick, ChadChad Hedrick  United States 35.52 1:42.14 6:09.68 12:55.11 145.289
4 BokkoHåvard Bøkko  Norway 35.75 1:42.67 6:09.94 12:53.89 145.661
5 Skobrev, IvanIvan Skobrev  Russia 35.90 1:42.94 6:08.77 12:58.36 146.008
6 Verweij, KoenKoen Verweij  Netherlands 35.64 1:42.28 6:09.51 13:08.97 146.132
7 Yuskov, DenisDenis Yuskov  Russia 35.42 1.41.88 6.11.79 13.12.49 146.183
8 Blokhuijsen, JanJan Blokhuijsen  Netherlands 35.59 1:43.78 6:11.91 12:57.58 146.253
9 Fabris, EnricoEnrico Fabris  Italy 35.99 1:43.48 6:06.06 13:10.60 146.619
10 Pedersen, Sverre LundeSverre Lunde Pedersen  Norway 35.87 1:43.08 6:10.47 13:08.82 146.718

Women

This table is correct as of 26 November 2015.[12] Times in bold are the current world records at that distance. For comparison: the world record small combination (similar to the women's Adelskalender samalog, only for times in one weekend) is 154.580, by Cindy Klassen.

Pos Name Country 500 m 1500 m 3000 m 5000 m Samalog
1 Klassen, CindyCindy Klassen  Canada 37.51 1:51.79 3:53.34 6:48.97 154.560
2 Sáblíková, MartinaMartina Sáblíková  Czech Republic 39.23 1:53.44 3:55.10 6:42.66 156.492
3 Wüst, IreenIreen Wüst  Netherlands 38.44 1:52.08 3:58.01 6:54.28 156.896
4 Friesinger-Postma, AnniAnni Friesinger-Postma  Germany 37.77 1:53.09 3:58.52 6:58.39 157.058
5 Pechstein, ClaudiaClaudia Pechstein  Germany 38.99 1:54.31 3:57.35 6:46.91 157.342
6 Groves, KristinaKristina Groves  Canada 38.75 1:53.18 3:58.11 6:54.55 157.616
7 ter Mors, JorienJorien ter Mors  Netherlands 37.50 1:53.51 4:02.23 7:06.79 158.386
8 Nesbitt, ChristineChristine Nesbitt  Canada 37.59 1:52.75 4:03.44 7:07.15 158.461
9 Anschütz-Thoms, DanielaDaniela Anschütz-Thoms  Germany 39.38 1:53.80 3:58.07 6:56.15 158.606
10 Richardson-Bergsma, HeatherHeather Richardson-Bergsma  United States 36.90 1:50.85 4:05.00 7:20.27 158.710

References

  1. 1 2 Gerard H. Kuper & Elmer Sterken, Endurance in speed skating: The development of world records, European Journal of Operational Research 148 (2) 293-301 (published 16 July 2003).
  2. ↑ Stenlund, Evert. "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1899 - 1 July 1909".
  3. ↑ Stenlund, Evert. "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1919 - 1 July 1929".
  4. ↑ Stenlund, Evert. "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1949 - 1 July 1959".
  5. 1 2 Stenlund, Evert. "title = Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1969 - 1 July 1979".
  6. ↑ Stenlund, Evert. "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1999 - 1 July 2004".
  7. ↑ Van Ingen Schenau, De Boer & De Groot, Biomechanics of speed skating, in Biomechanics of Sport, Christopher L. Vaughan editor, Informa Health Care, 1989, ISBN 0-8493-6820-0, p. 141.
  8. ↑ T. B. Hansen, Another Revolution, from a series of articles on the history of speed skating records, in The Racing Blade.
  9. ↑ "Current world records Men". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Evert Stenlund, All Time best performances
  11. ↑ Evert Stenlund, Current rankings in the men's Adelskalender
  12. ↑ Evert Stenlund, Current rankings in the women's Adelskalender
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