Olympic Speedskating 2018: Full Live-Stream Schedule, Dates and Top Stars
Speedskating will once again form a major part of the Winter Olympics programme when the Games return on February 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with the events split between the Gangneung Ice Arena and the Gangneung Oval.
Speedskating is perhaps more akin to events from the Summer Olympics, with athletes bidding to make it around a track in the fastest time.
The events encompass long track runs and short track sprints, and they are comprised of men's and women's competitions over a number of distances, relays and team pursuits.
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Live-stream coverage of the events can be found via Eurosport Player, BBC Sport online and NBCOlympics.com.
Here is the complete schedule for the speed skating in Pyeongchang:
Saturday, Feb. 10
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Men's 1,500-metre final, Women's 500-metre qualification, Women's 3,000-metre relay qualification
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Women's 3,000-metres
Sunday, Feb. 11
7 a.m. GMT/2 a.m. ET: Men's 5,000-metres
Monday, Feb. 12
12:30 p.m. GMT/7:30 a.m. ET: Women's 1,500-metres
Tuesday, Feb. 13
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Women's 500-metre final, Men's 1,000-metre qualification, Men's 5,000-metre relay qualification
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Men's 1,500-metres
Wednesday, Feb. 14
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Women's 1,000-metres
Thursday, Feb. 15
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Men's 10,000-metres
Friday, Feb. 16
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Women's 500-metres
Saturday Feb. 17
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Women's 1,500-metre final, Men's 1,000-metre final
Sunday, Feb. 18
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Men's team pursuit qualification, Women's 500-metres
Monday, Feb. 19
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Women's team pursuit qualification, Men's 500-metres
Tuesday, Feb. 20
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Women's 1,000-metre qualification, Men's 500-metre qualification, Women's 3,000-metre relay final
Wednesday, Feb. 21
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Women/Men's team pursuit finals
Thursday, Feb. 22
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Men's 500-metre final, Women's 1,000-metre final, Men's 5,000-metre relay final
Friday, Feb. 23
10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET: Men's 1,000-metres
Saturday, Feb. 24
11 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET: Women/Men's mass start
Top Stars
Choi Min-Jeong
Choi Min-Jeong will carry the hopes of host nation South Korea with her in Pyeongchang as she bids to replicate her World Championship success on the Olympic stage.
The 19-year-old burst onto the scene as a youngster in 2014, not at Sochi but in the World Junior Championships in Erzurum, Turkey, where she bagged two gold medals, a silver and two bronzes.
The following year, at the age of just 16, she became the overall women's world champion with four gold medals at the World Championships and did the same again in 2016 with three more golds on home soil in Seoul.
Choi also leads the world rankings in the women's 500, 1,000 and 1,500-metre events for the 2017-18 season, with Korea top of the standings for the 3,000-metre relay, too.
She grabbed four golds at the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup event in Hungary last year, and followed that up with further success in the Netherlands, per the ISU's official Twitter account:
This will be her first Olympics, but despite her age she'll be one of the contenders to beat.
Sven Kramer
Among those flying the flag for the Netherlands is Sven Kramer, who will hold lofty ambitions coming into the Games.
The 31-year-old distance specialist has been a dominant figure in the sport over the last decade, having won gold in every annual World Allround Championships since 2007.
Kramer holds the 5,000-metre world record and won gold in that distance in Sochi and at Vancouver in 2010.
He has a total of seven Olympic medals to his name, making him the joint-most decorated male Olympic speedskater alongside Clas Thunberg and Ivar Ballangrud, but with the pair retired he can surpass them in Pyeongchang.
Kramer's speed over the ice is remarkable, and he recently demonstrated as much at the ISU World Cup Long Track Speed Skating event in Heerenveen:
Most of Kramer's Olympic success as come in the 5,000 metres and the team pursuit, but a 10,000-metre gold has thus far eluded him, something he'll hope to put right in Pyeongchang.
For Elise Christie, Pyeongchang represents the final stage of her redemption after a disastrous showing in Sochi that saw her disqualified from all three of her events.
Christie lost a silver medal in the 500-metre event after being penalised for colliding with Arianna Fontana and Park Seung-Hi of Italy and South Korea, respectively, and she was disqualified from the 1,500-metres after missing the finish line by one centimetre.
A collision with China's Li Jianrou saw her eliminated from the 1,000-metre race.
Per Olympic Channel, Christie has overcome the difficulties she faced in 2014 and is targeting success in Pyeongchang:
The 27-year-old exercised her demons in Sochi at the European Championships in 2016 with four golds, and she followed that up with another three in the World Championships in Rotterdam last year.
The Brit also holds the world record for the women's 500-metre short-track speedskate, so she's well-placed for success here.
Her response to the disappointment of the last Olympics has been inspirational and medals in this year's competition would be a fitting reward.
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