Overview
- Origin
- Modern
- Category
- Winter
- Olympic discipline
- Yes
- Paralympic discipline
- No
- Central pathway
- Olympic (TOPS eligible)
- Athlete profiles on SportSupport
- 1
Governance and status
Each field below is shown only where we hold a source for it; anything else reads “Not currently verified” rather than a guess. Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition is granted year by year, so it is only ever shown with the year it applies to. Last reviewed: September 2026.
- Indian governing/organising body
- Ice Skating Association of India
- Ministry recognition
- Not currently verified
- International federation
- Not currently verified
- Khelo India inclusion
- Not currently verified
- TOPS eligibility
- In scope — TOPS covers Olympic medal prospects
- Olympic status
- On the Olympic programme
- Paralympic status
- Not a Paralympic discipline
Speed Skating is listed on SportSupport in the winter category. Its recorded origin is Modern. It is on the Olympic programme. We list Ice Skating Association of India as the Indian governing/organising body for the sport.
Speed Skating is on the pathway that runs through India's national sports federations to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), with selection running through Ice Skating Association of India against its published benchmarks. Being on this pathway is not itself a statement that the discipline is currently in TOPS — TOPS covers a Core Group and a Development Group chosen by the Mission Olympic Cell.
Scholarships & Funding
Central, state and private scholarships available for speed skating athletes in India.
- Khelo India Talent Identification & Development (KITID)
Monthly stipend (₹10,000 for selected Khelo India athletes), boarding, coaching and kit at accredited centres for talent identified through the Khelo India selection process (Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports). Applies only to disciplines on the official Khelo India Games list, and only to athletes it selects.
- Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)
Central government scheme covering training, foreign exposure, equipment and an out-of-pocket allowance (up to ₹50,000/month) for athletes inducted by the Mission Olympic Cell. TOPS covers a Core Group and a Development Group of disciplines rather than every Olympic sport, and induction is decided athlete by athlete; we hold no current list confirming whether speed skating is among the covered disciplines.
- National Sports Development Fund (NSDF)
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports fund used to sponsor elite athletes' training, foreign coaches and equipment. Allocations are made case by case; we hold no record of NSDF support specific to speed skating.
- Pension for Meritorious Sportspersons
Lifetime monthly pension (₹20,000 for Olympic/World/Asian/CWG medallists; scaled by tier) for retired internationals who meet the scheme's medal criteria — Government of India.
Indian Players
1 profilesRules
Ice speed skating is a pure race against the clock on a refrigerated ice oval. Long track is contested on a 400m oval where two skaters race at a time in inner and outer lanes, crossing over on the back straight each lap so both cover an identical distance; standard individual distances are 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m, with rankings decided by time rather than head-to-head placing. Team pursuit puts three skaters per nation in single file over 6 or 8 laps, timed on the last skater across the line. Short track is raced on a 111.12m track inside a hockey rink with four to six skaters in a mass-start pack over 500m, 1000m, 1500m and relays, where finishing position — not time — decides progression through heats to the final. Penalties and disqualification apply for impeding, cutting inside the track markers, false starts and lane infringements, and the mass start format in long track uses a points-scoring sprint system for intermediate laps.
Authoritative rulebook: Ice Skating Association of India. Age-group and school-level variations are published by SGFI and the state associations each season.
Positions
Typical roles across winter sports. These are category-level descriptions, not a sourced speed skating squad list.
- Alpine / cross-country / snowboardTimed and judged snow disciplines under FIS rules.
- Skating & ice hockeySpeed skating, figure skating and ice hockey under ISU / IIHF.
- Sliding sportsBobsleigh, luge and skeleton contested on ice tracks.
Equipment
Standard kit and infrastructure required to train and compete in speed skating at a federation-recognised event.
- Long-track clap skates (hinged heel) or fixed-blade short-track skates with bent blades for cornering
- Aerodynamic one-piece skinsuit; short track adds cut-resistant suit, helmet, neck guard, shin and knee pads and gloves with hard fingertips
- Blade sharpening jig, stones and blade guards
- Off-ice training kit: slideboard, cycling setup, squat and plyometric equipment
- Access to a refrigerated 400m long-track oval or 111m short-track rink for competition-standard training
Governing/organising body
Ice Skating Association of India is the body we list as the Indian governing/organising body for Speed Skating. We hold no confirmed Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition record for it, so nothing here states that it is currently recognised.
- Origin
- Modern
- Olympic
- Yes
- Paralympic
- No
- Category
- Winter
Major Indian Events
Domestic competitions we hold a source for in speed skating.
- National Speed & Figure Skating Championships
Organized by the Ice Skating Association of India (ISAI), which maintains India's official speed skating national records. Shruti Kotwal holds five gold medals from national championships and has been described as virtually undefeated domestically.
- Khelo India Winter Games
Held at Gupuks Pond, Leh, Ladakh, giving Indian speed skaters a rare chance to compete on home soil — Shruti Kotwal returned to national competition there in 2024 after a 15-year gap.
International Events
Continental and world-level competitions we hold a source for in speed skating.
- Asian Winter Games
India's presence has grown dramatically — just three skaters represented India at Sapporo 2017, while the sports ministry cleared a 41-member squad for Harbin 2025, entirely ice skaters and support staff. Vishwaraj Jadeja competed at Harbin aged 39 in the 1500m and 5000m, the oldest speed skater at those Games and the most senior member of India's delegation. The men's team pursuit trio of Chandra Mouli Danda, Jadeja and Amitesh Mishra set the Indian national record (4:29.32) there.
- South Asian Winter Games
Shruti Kotwal won gold in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m at the 2011 edition.
- Winter World Masters Games
Jadeja won four medals at the 2020 edition — silver in the 3km, 5km and 10km, and bronze in the 1km.
Leagues
No dedicated professional league is currently catalogued for speed skating. The national championship under Ice Skating Association of India remains the top domestic competition.
All leagues →International Players
Globally recognised speed skating athletes to know outside India.
The international federation for speed skating maintains the current world ranking — check the federation site for the up-to-date top names.
Career Options
Ways to build a career in speed skating — on the field, on the sidelines and behind the scenes.
- Both of India's leading ice speed skaters started on wheels: Jadeja came from a family of roller and inline skating national champions in Gujarat and switched to ice specifically because inline skating is not an Olympic sport; Kotwal began roller skating at age 10 in Pune before making the same transition
- Overseas training is effectively a requirement — Jadeja trains in the Netherlands under coach Wim Nieuwenhuizen, and Kotwal at the Utah Olympic Oval in the US, which she has called a 'game-changer' for access to world-class coaching and one of the fastest ice tracks in the world
- Olympic qualification remains a genuine gap: Kotwal has been candid that her national record of 41.97 seconds in the 500m is well outside the sub-40-second qualifying standard she needs
- Jadeja has set 65 national records and competed in over 200 international races; he set an unofficial world record skating 5km at 4,500m altitude at Lake Tso Moriri in Ladakh in January 2019, and later founded India's first elite winter sports mentorship academy
- ISU scholarships have been a real enabler — Kotwal received one in 2012 to train in Germany under Canadian Olympian Jeremy Wotherspoon
- Playing pathway through ISAI's national championships and Khelo India Winter Games; India currently has no Olympic-standard long-track oval, making domestic development structurally difficult
Related academies
0 listedNo speed skating academies are catalogued in the directory yet. Browse the full academy list or list your academy to appear here.
FAQs
Common questions about speed skating in India.
Who governs Speed Skating in India?▾
We list Ice Skating Association of India as the Indian governing/organising body for Speed Skating, and state associations affiliated to it run age-group and state-level competition. We hold no current-year Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports recognition record for it, so this is not a statement that it is currently a recognised national sports federation — recognition is granted year by year.
Is Speed Skating an Olympic sport?▾
Yes, Speed Skating is on the Olympic programme. Athletes selected by Ice Skating Association of India against its published criteria can be considered for TOPS funding.
How do I start playing Speed Skating in India?▾
The usual routes are a school team under the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), a college team under the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), or a private academy affiliated to your state association under Ice Skating Association of India. Age-group state championships follow from there.
What government schemes support Speed Skating athletes?▾
TOPS supports a Core Group and a Development Group of disciplines selected by the Mission Olympic Cell, rather than every Olympic sport. We hold no current list confirming whether Speed Skating is among them, so we make no TOPS claim for it. State governments give cash awards to medallists at events they notify. Speed Skating does not appear on the official Khelo India Games discipline list, so we make no Khelo India claim for it.
Speed Skating in every state & UT
Dedicated pages for Speed Skating in each Indian state and Union Territory — academies, schemes, athletes and how to start.
- Speed Skating in Andhra Pradesh
- Speed Skating in Arunachal Pradesh
- Speed Skating in Assam
- Speed Skating in Bihar
- Speed Skating in Chhattisgarh
- Speed Skating in Goa
- Speed Skating in Gujarat
- Speed Skating in Haryana
- Speed Skating in Himachal Pradesh
- Speed Skating in Jharkhand
- Speed Skating in Karnataka
- Speed Skating in Kerala
- Speed Skating in Madhya Pradesh
- Speed Skating in Maharashtra
- Speed Skating in Manipur
- Speed Skating in Meghalaya
- Speed Skating in Mizoram
- Speed Skating in Nagaland
- Speed Skating in Odisha
- Speed Skating in Punjab
- Speed Skating in Rajasthan
- Speed Skating in Sikkim
- Speed Skating in Tamil Nadu
- Speed Skating in Telangana
- Speed Skating in Tripura
- Speed Skating in Uttar Pradesh
- Speed Skating in Uttarakhand
- Speed Skating in West Bengal
- Speed Skating in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- Speed Skating in Chandigarh
- Speed Skating in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
- Speed Skating in Delhi
- Speed Skating in Jammu & Kashmir
- Speed Skating in Ladakh
- Speed Skating in Lakshadweep
- Speed Skating in Puducherry