Nao Kodaira
Kodaira during the 2018 Olympics
Personal information
Native name小平 奈緒
NationalityJapanese
Born (1986-05-26) 26 May 1986 (age 37)
Chino, Nagano, Japan
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
CountryJapan
SportSpeed skating
Event(s)500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m
Retired2022
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Pyeongchang 500 m
Silver medal – second place 2018 Pyeongchang 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2010 Vancouver Team pursuit
World Single Distances Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 Gangneung 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2020 Salt Lake City 500 m
Silver medal – second place 2017 Gangneung 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 2019 Inzell 500 m
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Heerenveen 500 m
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Inzell 1000 m
World Sprint Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 Calgary Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2019 Heerenveen Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2020 Hamar Sprint
Asian Winter Games
Gold medal – first place 2017 Sapporo 500 m
Gold medal – first place 2017 Sapporo 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Astana/Almaty 1500 m
Winter Universiade
Gold medal – first place 2009 Harbin 1500m
Silver medal – second place 2007 Turin 1000m
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Harbin 1000m

Nao Kodaira (Japanese: 小平 奈緒; born 26 May 1986) is a Japanese former long track speed skater who specialised in the sprint distances.

She is the 2018 Olympic champion in the 500 m distance. Kodaira is the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic gold medal in speed skating.

In 2009, she graduated from Shinshu University with a bachelor's degree in education.

Career

At the 2010 Winter Olympics she won a silver medal in the team pursuit event. She placed 5th in the 1000 and the 1500 m events and 12th in the 500 m one at the Olympics. At the 2014–15 World Cup stop in Seoul, South Korea, on 21 November 2014, she won the 500 m event, and she has a total of 25 podium placings in the World Cup. At the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won the bronze medal in the 500 m event.

At the 2017 World Single Distance Championships, she became the first Japanese woman to win an individual single distance world title winning the women's 500 m event.[1] She won also silver medal in the 1000 m event at the Championships. At the 2017 World Sprint Championships, she won the women's competition. In the season, she became overall winner of ISU World Cup 500 m cup.

Kodaira took the top step also in every single ISU World Cup one in the 2017–18 season ahead of the Olympics.[2]

She is the current world record holder in the 2×500 metres and the sprint combination,[3] and the former world record holder in the 1000 metres[4] and the team sprint, as well as the current Olympic and Japanese record holder in the 500 metres.[5][6]

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kodaira won gold medal in the women's 500 m event and the silver medal in the women's 1000 m event respectively. In the former, she also set an Olympic record and became the first woman to break the 37-second barrier at sea level, as well as the first female Japanese Olympic champion in speed skating.[7] In April 2022, Kodaira announced that she will retire from speed skating in October after a final race at the national single distances championship to be held in her hometown Nagano.[8]

Records

Personal records

Personal records[9]
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m 36.39 16 March 2019 Olympic Oval, Calgary Current Japanese record.[6]
500 m (sea level) 36.94 18 February 2018 Gangneung Oval, Gangneung Current sea-level world best, current Olympic record.[5]
2×500 m 73.55 26 February 2017 Olympic Oval, Calgary Current world record.[10]
1000 m 1:11.77 9 March 2019 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1500 m 1:52.67 5 December 2021 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Team sprint 1:26.62 22 November 2015 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Sprint comb. 146.390 25–26 February 2017 Olympic Oval, Calgary Current world record.[3]

World records

World records[11]
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
1000 m 1:12.09 10 December 2017 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City World record until beaten by Brittany Bowe on 9 March 2019.[4]
Sprint comb. 146.390 25–26 February 2017 Olympic Oval, Calgary Current world record.[3]

Olympic records

Olympic records
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m 36.94 18 February 2018 Gangneung Oval, Gangneung Current Olympic record.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Kodaira captures women's 500-meter title at world championships". Japan Times. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. ^ "ISU RESULTS". isuresults.eu. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Evolution of the world record Sprint combination Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Evolution of the world record 1000 meters Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Olympic Records". SpeedskatingResults.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  6. ^ a b "National Records – Japan (JPN)". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  7. ^ Harris, Beth (18 February 2018), "Japan's Nao Kodaira wins 500-meter speedskating gold over South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa", Chicago Tribune
  8. ^ "Japan's Olympic champion Kodaira to retire". Reuters. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  9. ^ "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Speed Skating – Records – Historical World Record 2 x 500m – Ladies". ISU. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.

External links

Records Preceded by Heather Bergsma Women's sprint combination speed skating world record 26 February 2017 – present Succeeded byCurrent holder Preceded by Brittany Bowe Women's 1000 m speed skating world record 10 December 2017 – 9 March 2019 Succeeded by Brittany Bowe
Olympic champions in women's 500 m speed skating
World champions in women's 500 m speed skating
World champions in women's sprint speed skating
Categories