The women’s 500-meter speed skating world record, held by South Korea’s Lee Sang-hwa for 12 years, has been broken.

Femke Kok of the Netherlands set a new world record with a time of 36.09 seconds in the women’s 500 during the first round of the 2025-2026 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, surpassing Lee’s long-standing mark by 0.27 seconds.

Lee’s was one of the most dominant sprinters in speed skating history. She captured back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the 500 meters at the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Games, along with a silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

Her 2013 world-record time of 36.36 seconds came during a period of overwhelming dominance and the mark stood untouched despite major advances in training techniques and equipment.


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