The fastest speed skaters can reach a bit over 100 km/h (around 62 mph) in specially set-up record runs, while official race records over standard distances average just above 50 km/h.

Quick Scoop

  • In normal long‑track speed skating races, top skaters average about 50–52 km/h (31–32 mph) over sprint distances like 500–1,000 m.
  • Record lists for standard outdoor tracks show peak average speeds a little above 52 km/h in team sprint and 1,000 m events.
  • In a special high‑speed attempt using a windscreen and car pacing on a long straight track, Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis has been clocked at about 103 km/h (around 64 mph), often cited as a “fastest on skates” mark.

How that compares

  • Those 100+ km/h runs are more like a speed experiment (with pacing and aerodynamics help) than a regular Olympic race.
  • In official competition conditions, the fastest skaters are roughly as fast as a city car driving at 50 km/h, but on a thin blade over ice.

A tiny bit of story

Imagine a 400 m ice oval: a world‑class sprinter on skates hits top speed on the back straight, legs firing like a cycling sprint, holding over 50 km/h while carving through the turn without losing balance.

Now stretch that out on a long, wind‑protected straight with a pacing car, and you get Kjeld Nuis being pulled up to freeway speeds, briefly touching around 103 km/h on nothing but steel blades and ice.

TL;DR: In real races, the fastest speed skaters average just over 50 km/h, but in special record attempts with pacing and aerodynamics, they’ve pushed over 100 km/h on ice.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.