Another outdoor championship in the next few years?

A couple of days after the end of the Allround world championships that were held in Amsterdam, rumors about having another outdoor World championships in an open stadium have emerged.

By Jackob Savard

Photo by Isle van der Meer et Unknown / Oslo Museum

After the spectacular Allround world championships that were held in the legendary Amsterdam olympic stadium, Norwegians have come up with the idea of organising a World championship at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo in 2022. Holding the event in 2022 would align with the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of skating at the Bislett Stadium.

World and European championships have already been raced at the Bislett Stadium but there hasn’t been one since the 90’s. The stadium is now used for track and field competitions and football games. The three times world champion and four times Olympic champion Johann Olav Klass was one of the first to make the suggestion.

So now we have a chance to do this in 2022 after the Olympics in Oslo on Bislett stadium! 100 years anniversary for skating at Bislett and Norway at top of the world with skating again! It was an amazing weekend and hope we can do it! Thanks @CBvNL for showing us the winterway! https://t.co/wOU2jP21W4

— Johann Koss (@JohannKoss) 12 mars 2018

With Allan Dahl Johansson’s world junior title, Havard Lorentzen’s Olympic title on 500m, Norvegian team pursuit victory in Pyeongchang, Sverre Lunde Pedersen olympic medals and recent results at the allround championships, speed skating is regaining its popularity in Norway. The timing would be perfect to organize an event like this in Oslo.

This will be a topic to follow in the next few years. Knowing the hype the Amsterdam’s championships had, it would be awesome for speed skating to have another big event like this in 2022.