Sven Kramer

On 27 March 2020 it was announced that Kramer extended his contract with the Jumbo-Visma speed skating team until the 2022 Winter Olympics.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Kramer won the gold medal in the 5000 meter event, breaking his own Olympic record from 2014 with a time of 6:09.76. This was his third gold medal in a row in this event, and he became the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. He also became the first man to win eight Olympic medals in speed skating. In the 10,000 m event he finished sixth. In the following World championship allround he placed fourth overall.

At the 2016 European allround championships in Minsk, Kramer won a record 8th title.

At the 2015 European allround championships in Chelyabinsk, Kramer won his 7th title.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics, Kramer won gold at the 5000 m with an Olympic record of 6:10.76. Kramer also won silver in the 10,000 m. He withdrew from the 1500 m.

Kramer didn't participate at the Dutch national championships since he needed rest after the Olympic games in Vancouver, and to recover for the World Allround Championships in Heerenveen on 19–21 March.

In the 2011–2012 season Kramer returned to professional speed skating. He completed the European allround championships in Budapest in first place, claiming his fifth European allround championship.

At the European allround championships in Hamar in January 2010 Kramer won gold. He became the all-round European champion for the fourth year in a row. He won the final 10,000 meter race from the Italian Enrico Fabris, who ended second in the overall rankings. Russian Ivan Skobrev finished third.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kramer was the favourite to win three gold medals, like his countryman Ard Schenk at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo. At the 5000 meters race of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Kramer grabbed the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 6:14.60, beating the previous time of Jochem Uytdehaage by 0.06 seconds. He finished ahead of South Korean Lee Seung-hoon and Russian Ivan Skobrev, leaving four Olympic champions, Shani Davis, Enrico Fabris, Chad Hedrick and Bob de Jong, empty-handed.

At the World allround championships in Heerenveen on 19–21 March 2010, Kramer won an unprecedented fourth consecutive title. In the general classification after three distances, he ranked number 2, but in the final 10K race he skated 12:57.97 which was more than enough to pass Jonathan Kuck who was leading the overall classification before the start. Kuck ended number 2, Håvard Bøkko third. It also was Kramer's 8th consecutive championship title in European and World allround championship, another unprecedented feat.

Since 2007 he has been in a relationship with Dutch field hockey player Naomi van As, and they welcomed a daughter in October 2018.

On 14 January 2007, Kramer was crowned European Allround Champion in Collalbo, Italy. There had been a tight battle between Kramer and the 2006 winner Enrico Fabris. Fabris had won the two shorter and Kramer the two longer distances, but his overall score was lower than Fabris' (148.800 to 149.389). In addition, his times in the 5 and 10 km were new world records for outdoor skating. By skating a new personal best in the 1500 m Kramer overtook fellow Dutchman Jochem Uytdehaage and Enrico Fabris on the Adelskalender. On the Adelskalender he was ranked first as of 17 November 2007.

On 11 February 2007, Kramer became World Allround Champion for the first time. He skated the 500 m and the 10 km in personal bests, the latter in a new world record of 12:49.88.

At the World Championships of 2007 in Salt Lake City, Kramer participated in the 5000, 10,000 meters and the team pursuit. He won three out of three, the 10,000 m and the team pursuit in world records.

During the Essent ISU World Cup in Hamar (Norway) Kramer was awarded the Oscar Mathisen Award mainly due to the four world records he skated during 2007. Kramer skated four distances: 1500, 5000, 10,000 meters, and the team pursuit. In the 1500 meter event Kramer skated a good race and placed second, ahead of Olympic Champion Enrico Fabris and Shani Davis. Denny Morrison from Canada won the race. In the 5000 and 10,000 m distances, and the team pursuit, Kramer won three gold medals, just like the year before.

On 11 February 2006, he won the silver medal in the 5000 m at the 2006 Winter Olympic in Turin. Kramer also participated in the team pursuit event. The Dutch team was favourite and was leading Italy by nearly a full second in their semi-final, but Kramer stepped on a block and fell, taking Carl Verheijen with him. In the race for bronze, they defeated Norway, giving Kramer his second medal of the Games.

During the 2006 European Allround Championships in Hamar, Kramer reached fourth place after a tournament full of incidents. On the first day, the ice began to melt and the skaters had to wait until later in the evening to continue skating.

During the 2006 World Allround Championships in Calgary, Kramer set a new world record in the 10,000 meter event with a time of 12:51.60. Kramer won both the two longest distances of the tournament, but had to settle for bronze overall.

In the 2006–2007 season, Kramer won the first two 5000 m World Cup races, the second in 6:09.78, just outside his world record time. In December 2006 he again became national allround champion, where a personal record in the 500 meter event, his weakest distance, gave him great prospects for the international allround championships.

Kramer set a new world record for the 5000 m in Salt Lake City, on 19 November 2005, when he was 19 years old. With his time of 6:08.78 he also entered the top 10 of the all time world ranking, the Adelskalender. That season he became the Junior allround world champion.

In the 2004 season he came in second at the Junior allround world championships.

In December 2004 he won the Dutch Allround Championships at just 18 years old and thus qualified for the European Allround Championships for the first time, where he won the silver medal. At the World Allround Championships 2005 he came third. At the end of that season he signed a contract with the Dutch TVM-team.

Sven Kramer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsvɛnː ˈkraːmər] ; born 23 April 1986) is a Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 meters at the Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, and won a record 21 gold medals at the World Single Distance Championships; eight in the 5000 meters, five in the 10,000 meters, and eight in the team pursuit. Kramer is the current world record holder in the team pursuit (alongside Douwe de Vries and Marcel Bosker), and broke the world records in the 5000 meter and 10,000 meter events three times. By winning the 2010 World Allround Championship, Kramer became the first speed skater in history to win four consecutive world allround championships, and eight consecutive international allround championships. He was undefeated in the 18 international allround championships he participated in from the 2006/2007 season until the 2016/2017 season. From November 2007 to March 2009 he was ranked first in the Adelskalender, but despite his dominance as an all-round skater he has since been overtaken on that list by Shani Davis and, more recently, by his team mate Patrick Roest.

Sven Kramer was born on 23 April 1986 in Heerenveen, Friesland, Netherlands. He is the son of former speed skater Yep Kramer, and the four-year-older brother of speed skater Brecht Kramer. He is a born Frisian.

At the world allround championships in Moscow he also finished in first place claiming his fifth championship. This tied the record shared by Oscar Mathisen, who won his 5th title in 1914, and Clas Thunberg, who won his 5th title in 1931.