Smeding and Cooper open long track World Cup season in Beijing

Great Britain's long track speed skaters begin their 2026/27 ISU Speed Skating World Cup campaign in Beijing from 13 to 15 November, with Ellia Smeding and Gemma Cooper racing the first of six World Cup stops this season.

It is a season that begins and ends in the same city. Beijing opens the World Cup series, and in February it hosts the ISU Speed Skating World Championships, the season's main target. For Ellia, it is also a return to the city where her Olympic story began.

Smeding: Britain's most successful female long track skater

Ellia Smeding leads the team as Great Britain's most successful female long track speed skater. A two-time Olympian, she made history at Beijing 2022 as the first British woman to race long track at an Olympic Winter Games in 42 years, finishing 23rd in the 1000m and 27th in the 1500m.

Four years later at Milano Cortina 2026, she went further than any British woman before her. Her 11th place in the 1000m, in 1:15.834, is the best Olympic result ever recorded by a British woman in the event, and she missed out on the top ten by just four thousandths of a second. She also raced the 500m for the first time at a Games, finishing 25th, and closed out her campaign with 23rd in the 1500m.

This season she races the 500m, 1000m and 1500m. She holds the British records over 1000m and 1500m, and trains in Calgary with Pro Team Calgary.

Cooper over the longer distances

Gemma Cooper takes on the 3000m and the mass start. The British record holder at 3000m and 5000m, she set a new British 3000m record in Salt Lake City last season after returning to the World Cup circuit, and has twice finished in the top ten of the mass start at World Championship level.

The World Cup series

Skaters race the same distances at each stop, collecting points towards a season-long ranking for every distance, with the series also serving as the qualification route to the major championships. This season's six stops are:

• World Cup 1: Beijing, China, 13th to 15th November

• World Cup 2: Obihiro, Japan, 20th to 22th November

• World Cup 3: Heerenveen, Netherlands, 4th to 6th December

• World Cup 4: Stavanger, Norway, 11th to 13th December

• World Cup 5: Salt Lake City, USA, 29th to 31st January 2027

• World Cup 6: Calgary, Canada, 5th to 7th February 2027

  
  

The European Championships follow in Heerenveen from 8th to 10th January 2027, and the World Championships return to Beijing from 25th to 28th February 2027.

A small team with big ambitions

Great Britain has no long track oval of its own, so every lap these skaters train is done abroad. It makes their results on the world stage all the more impressive, and this season marks the start of a new Olympic cycle for the programme.

Emilie Greenfield joins the squad later in the season, racing the Neo-Senior division of the ISU Junior World Cup, which begins in Quebec City.

How to follow

Live results will be available on the ISU website throughout the weekend. Follow British Ice Skating on social media for updates from Beijing.

British Ice Skating would like to thank our equipment partner Skate-Tec for their support of our speed skating programmes.