Speed skating or speedskating is a form of skating in which the competitors attempt to travel a certain distance as quickly as possible on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, inline speed skating, and quad speed skating.

Speed skating is a Winter Olympic Games medal sport. The sport was revolutionized in the 1990s with the introduction of clap skates which can reduce lap times by one second. The sport was really professionalized in the Netherlands where it is hugely popular. A speed skater in the Netherlands can get large sponsor contracts.

Speed skating is currently conducted on outdoor or indoor ovals, often with artificially frozen ice. For the Olympic Games, rules demand a closed (indoor) oval-shaped track. According to the rules of the International Skating Union, a standard track should be either 400 m or 333 1/3 m long. 400 m is the standard used for all major competitions. Tracks of other, non-standard lengths, such 200 or 250 m, are also in use in some places for training and/or smaller local competitions. On standard tracks, the curves have a radius of 25–26 m in the inner lane, and each lane is 4–5 m wide.

All races are held in pairs, for which two lanes on the track are used. Skaters wear bands around their upper arm to identify which lane they started in. The colors are white for inner lane and red for outer lane. At the back straight, the skaters switch lanes which causes them both to cover the same distance per lap. When both skaters emerge from the corner at the exact same time, the person currently in the innerlane will have to let the outerlane pass in front of him. Essentially this is a disadvantage for the slower skater.

Occasionally, quartet starts are used to allow more skaters to start in a shorter time. This involves having two pairs of skaters in the lanes at the same time, but with the second pair starting when the first have completed approximately half of the first lap. The skaters in the second pair will then wear yellow and blue arm bands instead of the usual white and red.

When skating the Team pursuit, the two teams of 3 teammembers start at opposite sides of the oval. In marathon races there is usually a mass-start.