Speed skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics

At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, four speed skating events were scheduled, all for men, but medals were only awarded for three events, because the 10.000 m event was not completed. The Allround event, which was only organized in 1924, was removed from the program. The competitions were held on Monday, 13 February 1928 and on Tuesday, 14 February 1928.^[1]

Speed skating at the II Olympic Winter Games
The St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink in 1928
Venue	St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink
Date	13–14 February 1928
No. of events	4
Competitors	40 from 14 nations
← 1924 1932 →

In the 10,000-meter race, Irving Jaffee was leading the competition, having outskated Norwegian defending world champion Bernt Evensen in their heat, when rising temperatures thawed the ice.^[2] In a controversial ruling, the Norwegian referee canceled the entire competition. Although the International Olympic Committee reversed the referee's decision and awarded Jaffee the gold medal, the International Skating Union later overruled the IOC and restored the ruling.^[3] Evensen, for his part, publicly said that Jaffee should be awarded the gold medal, but that never happened.

Medal summary

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres details	Bernt Evensen  Norway	43.4	none awarded		John Farrell  United States	43.6
	Clas Thunberg  Finland				Jaakko Friman  Finland
					Roald Larsen  Norway
1500 metres details	Clas Thunberg  Finland	2:21.1	Bernt Evensen  Norway	2:21.9	Ivar Ballangrud  Norway	2:22.6
5000 metres details	Ivar Ballangrud  Norway	8:50.5	Julius Skutnabb  Finland	8:59.1	Bernt Evensen  Norway	9:00.1
10,000 metres details	The competition was cancelled in the fifth heat because of thawing ice

Participating nations

The 5000 metres race between Armand Carlsen (left) and Erhard Mayke (right).

A total of 40 speed skaters from 14 nations competed at the St. Moritz Games:

•  Austria (3)
•  Canada (3)
•  Estonia (2)
•  Finland (6)
•  France (2)
•  Germany (3)
•  Great Britain (3)
•  Hungary (1)
•  Latvia (1)
•  Lithuania (1)
•  Netherlands (2)
•  Norway (8)
•  Sweden (1)
•  United States (4)

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	2	1	3	6
2	Finland	2	1	1	4
3	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (3 entries)		4	2	5	11