A world record was set on Saturday in the men’s 5000 metre speed skating event in Inzell, Germany. Sander Eitrem of Skreia, Norway posted a time of 5:58.52 to win the World Cup gold medal. The victory was also significant because it came in the final World Cup spot before the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. Olympic Speed skating will begin on February 7. The men’s 5000m event will be on February 8 at 10 am ET.
Who had the old world record?
Timothy Loubineaud of France had the original world record. He set the record on November 14, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah with a time of 6:00.23. Eitrem is the first speed skater ever to skate 5000 metres under six minutes.
Inside look at the men’s 5000 metres
Eitrem reached the podium by 6.61 seconds over Casey Dawson of the United States, who finished in fourth place with a time of 6:05.13. Metodej Jilek of the Czech Republic won the silver medal with a time of 6:01.98. Loubineaud won the bronze medal with a time of 6:03.65.
Defending world champion
Eitrem won the gold medal for Norway in the men’s 5000 metres at the 2025 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, Norway. He posted a winning time of 6:10.05. It is interesting that Eitrem’s time at the 2025 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships was 11.53 seconds slower than his world record time on Saturday.
Jilek World Cup champion
Even though Eitrem set the World Record in the men’s 5000 metres, he is not the World Cup long distance speed skating champion for 2025-26. Eitrem finished second alongside Loubineaud with 253 points. It was Jilek who was the World Cup long distance speed skating champion with 264 points.
This was Eitrem’s first long distance World Cup gold medal of the season. He was second to Dawson in Calgary on November 21, and in third place in Salt Lake City on November 14 and in Hamar, Norway on December 12.
Norway’s speed skating Olympic medal projections
Norway is projected to get three medals in speed skating at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Eitrem is one of two Norwegians who are expected to win a gold medal in speed skating. In addition to Eitrem placing first in the men’s 5000 metres, Ragne Wiklund of Oslo is projected to place first in the women’s 3000 metres and second in the women’s 5000 metres behind Joy Beune of the Netherlands.
