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Jeremy Wotherspoon

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Jeremy Wotherspoon
Wotherspoon at a World Cup speed skating event in Heerenveen, Netherlands
Personal information
Born (1976-10-26) October 26, 1976 (age 48)
Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb)
Sport
CountryCanada
SportSpeed 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
Silver medal – second place 1998 Nagano 500 m
World Sprint Championships
Gold medal – first place 1999 Calgary Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2000 Seoul Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2002 Hamar Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2003 Calgary Sprint
Silver medal – second place 1998 Berlin Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2004 Nagano Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2005 Salt Lake City Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2008 Heerenveen Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Inzell Sprint
World Single Distance Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Berlin 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2004 Seoul 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2008 Nagano 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2001 Salt Lake City 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2001 Salt Lake City 500 m
Silver medal – second place 1998 Calgary 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2004 Seoul 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Calgary 500 m
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Nagano 500 m
Bronze medal – third place 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.[1][2][3]

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

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Early career

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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 to improve his ice hockey abilities. Initially, Wotherspoon competed in both short track and long track events. He eventually chose the 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

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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

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Wotherspoon announced that he was returning to speedskating in June 2013 to compete 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

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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, intending to end that nation's three-decade Olympic medal drought in long track's sprint events.[3]

Personal life

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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

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Personal bests

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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

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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).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "TSN Sports News & Headlines | Score Results, Standings | Schedules". Ctvolympics.ca. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  2. ^ a b 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 October 31, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e 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. December 13, 2003. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "Luge : Images" (PDF). La84foundation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  6. ^ "Speed Skating : Competition Schedule" (PDF). La84foundation.org. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  7. ^ Starkman, Randy (April 16, 2007). "Wotherspoon's retreat | Toronto Star". Thestar.com. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  8. ^ "Jeremy Wotherspoon". Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  9. ^ "Article". canada.com. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  10. ^ [1] Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Men's 500 m - Race 2 : Schedule and Results". Vancouver2010.com. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  12. ^ "Men's 1000 m - 1000m : Schedule and Results". Vancouver2010.com. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  13. ^ "Canadian speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon attempting return - Olympics - CBC". Cbc.ca. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  14. ^ "Jeremy Wotherspoon's Sochi dreams not over yet after he falls short Saturday". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013.
  15. ^ "Jeremy Wotherspoon". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  16. ^ "World Records". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  17. ^ "Jeremy Wotherspoon". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  18. ^ "Evo". Evertstenlund.se. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  19. ^ "fly". Evertstenlund.se. January 5, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
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Awards
Preceded by Oscar Mathisen Award
2008 		Succeeded by
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