From Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, the ISU World Cup Speed Skating event in Utah is the first of four qualifiers for the 2026 Winter Games.
U.S. Speedskating Executive Director Ted Morris said the ice at the Olympic Oval is primed for competition.
“Most of the world records are at the Utah Olympic Oval,” he said on KPCW’s Local News Hour. “So you're going to have athletes primed up, ready to go, and we expect to see, obviously, super fast times and potentially some world records.”
Tickets are available for the three-day long track competition. Morris says 350 athletes will compete, an all-time high for a World Cup event.
“Obviously, the number one nation in the world in long track speed skating is the Netherlands, the Dutch,” he said. “They'll be there, and you'll see a lot of their fans there dressed in orange with funny hats on and such.”
Skaters from Italy, Japan, Poland and the U.S. will also go for gold. That includes Park City skater and Olympian Casey Dawson.
“He's got an Olympic bronze medal from the team pursuit in 2022,” Morris said. “Currently as part of the team pursuit team, they are the world record holders, and they are also the defending world champions, so pretty much the number one team in the world going in.”
The team pursuit event is Saturday. Click here for the full schedule.
