Smeding, Cooper and Greenfield named for the 2026/27 long track season
British Ice Skating has named the Great Britain long track speed skating team for the 2026/27 season, with Ellia Smeding and Gemma Cooper selected for the ISU Speed Skating World Cup and Emilie Greenfield selected to race the Neo-Senior division of the ISU Junior World Cup.
It is a season that begins and ends in the same place. The World Cup series opens in Beijing in November, and four months later the same city hosts the World Championships. In between come six World Cup stops across four continents and a European Championships in Heerenveen.
The senior team
Ellia Smeding leads the squad into the new season across the sprint and middle distances, selected for the 500m, 1000m and 1500m.
Smeding arrives off the back of the strongest Games of her career. At Milano Cortina 2026 she finished 11th in the 1000m, the best result ever recorded by a British woman in the event at an Olympic Winter Games, and also contested the 500m and 1500m. She was the first British woman to race long track at a Games in 42 years when she made her debut in Beijing in 2022, and she holds the British records over 1000m and 1500m. She trains in Calgary with Pro Team Calgary under head coach Bart Schouten.
Gemma Cooper takes on the longer end of the programme, selected for the 3000m and the mass start.
Cooper is the British record holder at 3000m and 5000m, and a two-time top-ten finisher in the mass start at World Championship level. She returned to World Cup competition last season after a spell away from the circuit and set a new British 3000m record in Salt Lake City. Her route into the sport came through short track in Nottingham before she moved across to the long oval and began focusing on it full time.
The World Cup series
The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is the sport's season-long international circuit. Skaters race the same distances at each stop, collecting points towards a season-long classification for every distance, with the series doubling as the qualification pathway for the major championships.
Six stops make up the 2026/27 series:
13 to 15 November 2026, World Cup 1, Beijing, China
20 to 22 November 2026, World Cup 2, Obihiro, Japan
4 to 6 December 2026, World Cup 3, Heerenveen, Netherlands
11 to 13 December 2026, World Cup 4, Stavanger, Norway
29 to 31 January 2027, World Cup 5, Salt Lake City, USA
5 to 7 February 2027, World Cup 6, Calgary, Canada
The ISU Speed Skating European Championships follow in Heerenveen from 8 to 10 January 2027, with the ISU Speed Skating World Championships in Beijing from 25 to 28 February 2027.
Stepping up: Emilie Greenfield
Emilie Greenfield has been selected to race the Neo-Senior division of the ISU Junior World Cup, entered in the 1500m, 3000m and mass start.
The Neo-Senior division sits alongside the junior races at each Junior World Cup, running on the same programme with its own separate results and rankings. The ISU introduced it to give skaters who have moved beyond junior age but are not yet racing the senior World Cup a competitive step in between, and it has become an important development rung for smaller nations in particular.
The Junior World Cup series visits Quebec City twice before heading to Italy:
28 to 29 November 2026, Junior World Cup 1, Quebec City, Canada
5 to 6 December 2026, Junior World Cup 2, Quebec City, Canada
6 to 7 February 2027, Junior World Cup 3, Baselga di Pine, Italy
The ISU Speed Skating Junior World Championships take place in Baselga di Pine from 12 to 14 February 2027.
How to follow
Results and live timing for every World Cup and Junior World Cup stop are available through the ISU, and British Ice Skating will carry updates across its website and social channels throughout the season.
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