Nao Kodaira

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

Nao Kodaira
Kodaira during the 2018 Olympics
Personal information
Native name小平 奈緒
NationalityJapanese
Born (1986-05-26) 26 May 1986
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
Medal record
Olympic Games
2018 Pyeongchang500 m
2018 Pyeongchang1000 m
2010 VancouverTeam pursuit
World Single Distances Championships
2017 Gangneung500 m
2020 Salt Lake City500 m
2017 Gangneung1000 m
2019 Inzell500 m
2015 Heerenveen500 m
2019 Inzell1000 m
World Sprint Championships
2017 CalgarySprint
2019 HeerenveenSprint
2020 HalmarSprint
Asian Winter Games
2017 Sapporo500 m
2017 Sapporo1000 m
2011 Astana/Almaty1500 m
Winter Universiade
2009 Harbin1500m
2007 Turin1000m
2009 Harbin1000m

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 world sprint championships in the year, 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 silver one 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]

Records

Personal records
Personal records[8]
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m36.3916 March 2019Olympic Oval, CalgaryCurrent Japanese record.[6]
500 m (sea level)36.9418 February 2018Gangneung Oval, GangneungCurrent sea-level world best, current Olympic record.[5]
2×500 m73.5526 February 2017Olympic Oval, CalgaryCurrent world record.[9]
1000 m1:11.779 March 2019Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1500 m1:52.8216 February 2020Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Team sprint1:26.8214 November 2015Olympic Oval, CalgaryFormer world record.[10][11]
Sprint comb.146.39025–26 February 2017Olympic Oval, CalgaryCurrent world record.[3]

World records
World records[10]
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
1000 m1:12.0910 December 2017Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake CityWorld record until beaten by Brittany Bowe on 9 March 2019.[4]

Olympic records
Olympic records
Speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m36.9418 February 2018Gangneung Oval, GangneungCurrent 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. "Evolution of the world record Sprint combination Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  4. "Evolution of the world record 1000 meters Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. "Olympic Records". SpeedskatingResults.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  6. "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. "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  9. "Speed Skating – Records – Historical World Record 2 x 500m – Ladies". ISU. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  10. "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  11. "ISU World Cup Speed Skating Calgary – Result Team Sprint Ladies". ISU. 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
Records
Preceded by
Heather Bergsma		 Women's sprint combination speed skating world record
26 February 2017 – present		 Succeeded by
Current holder
Preceded by
Brittany Bowe		 Women's 1000 m speed skating world record
10 December 2017 – 9 March 2019		 Succeeded by
Brittany Bowe


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