Speed Skating is a spectacular sport. And the Hamar 2024 FISU World University Championships Speed Skating took place in a spectacular venue: the Viking Ship Olympic Arena. An inspiring setting that certainly pushed the Czech mixed relay team of Tomas Bohumsky and Katerina Kainova to surpass themselves on the final day of competition, winning not only the gold medal but also setting a new FISU record of 03:07.37! The other heroes of the competition are undoubtedly Hana Noake, who returns to Japan with two gold medals and a bronze, Poland's Natalia Jabrzyk and Marek Kania, and local Kasper Tweter. The host nation enjoyed the warm support of many local fans who never seemed to stop cheering, Norwegian flags in hand. 

The Netherlands and Spain also managed to fly their flag at the beautiful venue during the four days of competition at this seventh edition of the FISU Championship Speed Skating. However, it was the home nation of Norway who delighted their flag-waving supporters with 12 medals, including five golds. Poland and Japan also had strong championships, winning nine and eight medals respectively. 

The shortest event, the 500m, was won by Norway's Julie Nistad Samsonsen as the women's winner in a time of 39.42, ahead of Poland's Iga Wojtasik (39.49) and Martyna Baran (39.53). Poland's Marek Kania won an exciting men's event in 35.143, followed by Japan's Yuuta Hirose (35.147) and Issa Gunji (35.75). 

The three medals in the women's 1,000m were decided by less than a second. Poland's Natalia Jabrzyk was the best in 1:20.02, ahead of Japan's Hina Onodera (1:20.11) and Hana Noake (1:20.93). It was a similar story in the men's 1,000m, with Marek Kania putting in a stunning performance. The Pole won with authority in a time of 1:11.21, beating two Japanese runners such as Issa Gunji (1:12.27) and Yuuta Hirose (1:12.43). 

In the women's 1,500m, Jabrzyk won her second gold medal in 2:03.91, exactly one second better than Norway's Marte Bjerkreim Furnée. The bronze medal went to Kursova of the Czech Republic in 2:05.87. Four Norwegians finished in the top three in the men's race: Kasper Tveter in first place (1:50.76), John Granli in second (1:51.52) and Oddbjørn Mellemstrand in third (1:52.70).

Japan won gold in the women's 3,000m with Hana Noake (2:22.04) finishing more than a second ahead of Czech Zuzana Kursova (4:23.42) and more than two seconds faster than Norway's Hanna Svenni (4:24.55). The men's 5,000m was a real Norwegian party with Kasper Tveter winning in 6:41.22, John Granli second (6:43.85) and Sander Tveter bronze (6:46.29). 

Hana Noake of Japan was the best in the women's mass start with 60 points, Nyncke Dijkstra of the Netherlands was second (40) and Zuzana Kursova of the Czech Republic was third (23). In the men's event, Manuel Taibo of Spain surprised everyone with 60 points, followed by Sigurd Holbø Dyrset of Norway (40) and Max Douma of the Netherlands (20). 

Time for the relays. Norway won gold in the women's team pursuit (3:14.80), seven hundredths ahead of the Czech Republic, with Poland third (3:16.57). Norway dominated the men's team pursuit by a wide margin with a time of 4:02.55, followed by Poland (4:10.28) and the Netherlands (4:11.77). The gold medal in the mixed team relay went to the Czech Republic in 3:07.37 in a new FISU record, with Poland taking silver (3:08.97) and Spain bronze (3:10.52).