To win a gold medal at the Olympics, you have to be better than everyone else. For many events, you have to be faster than everyone else, too.
At the Winter Olympics, luge and alpine skiers, for instance, perform their respective sports at blistering speeds.
How fast do they go exactly? In honor of the 2026 Winter Games, learn more about Olympic speed records below:
Alpine skiing: Competitors reach 75-95 miles per hour. (Course distances vary in each edition of the Olympics.)
Fastest Olympic Winter Games performances
Women: Michela Figini, 1984 in Sarajevo, 1:13.36
Men: Fritz Strobl, 2002 in Salt Lake, 1:39.13
Bobsled: Athletes reach speeds upward of 90 miles per hour. Of the four bobsled events, the four-man discipline is the fastest.
Fastest four-man Olympic Winter Games performance
Germany, 2018 in Pyeongchang, 3:15.85
Cross-country skiing: Competitors reach 15 miles per hour and 30 miles per hour downhill.
Luge: Luge is considered the fastest of the three sliding events with speeds of up to 96 miles per hour, timed to the thousandth of a second.
Fastest Olympic Winter Games performance
Men: Bernhard Glass, 2:54.796, Lake Placid, 1980
Women: Vera Zozula, 2:36.537, Lake Placid, 1980
Short track speed skating: Skaters reach speeds of over 30 miles per hour, timed to the thousandth of a second. Olympic records for all four men's events were broken in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Skaters who hold both the world and Olympic records
Men: Wu Dajing (500m, 39.505, 39.584), Hwang Daeheon (1,000m, 1:20.875, 1:23.042)
Women: Suzanne Schulting (1,000m, 1:25.958, 1:26.514 - she also has the 500m Olympic record), Choi Minjeong (1,500m, 2:14.354, 2:16.831)
Skeleton: Competitors reach 80-83 miles per hour.
Fastest Olympic Winter Games performances
Men: 1948 in St. Moritz, John Crammond and John Heaton, 47.7 seconds in the heats
Women: Lizzy Yarnold, Pyeongchang 2018, set a track record at 51.46 seconds
Snowboarding: On average, competitors reach 25-35 miles per hour, but elite snowboarders can reach 70 miles per hour.
Speedskating: Short track speedskaters can reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, while long track skaters hit speeds at 35-58 miles per hour. USA currently holds world records in the men's team spring and men's team pursuit.
Other USA record holders
Men: Jordan Stolz, world record, 1,000m, 1:05.37
Women: Brittany Bowe, world record, 1,000m, 1:11.61
Other notables
Men: Kjeld Nuis owns both the Olympic and world record in the 1,500m (1:43.21, 1:40.17), Nils van der Poel owns two Olympic records (5,000m 6:08.84 and 10,000m 12:30.74)
Women: Irene Schouten owns two Olympic records (3,000m 3:56.93 and 5,000m 6:43.51)
Freestyle skiing: Competitors reach around 37 miles per hour.
Ski jumping: Competitors reach speeds of 50-60 miles per hour going down the ramp.
For more 2026 Winter Olympics coverage, visit the ESPN hub page.