Nao Kodaira

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
Events
500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m
Retired2022
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2018 Pyeongchang500 m
Silver medal – second place2018 Pyeongchang1000 m
Silver medal – second place2010 VancouverTeam pursuit
World Single Distances Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 Gangneung500 m
Gold medal – first place2020 Salt Lake City500 m
Silver medal – second place2017 Gangneung1000 m
Silver medal – second place2019 Inzell500 m
Bronze medal – third place2015 Heerenveen500 m
Bronze medal – third place2019 Inzell1000 m
World Sprint Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 CalgarySprint
Gold medal – first place2019 HeerenveenSprint
Silver medal – second place2020 HamarSprint
Asian Winter Games
Gold medal – first place2017 Sapporo500 m
Gold medal – first place2017 Sapporo1000 m
Bronze medal – third place2011 Astana/Almaty1500 m
Winter Universiade
Gold medal – first place2009 Harbin1500m
Silver medal – second place2007 Turin1000m
Bronze medal – third place2009 Harbin1000m

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

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 2017 World Sprint Championships, 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 the silver medal 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] In April 2022, Kodaira announced that she will retire from speed skating in October after a final race at the national single distances championship to be held in her hometown Nagano.[8]

Records

Personal records

Personal records[9]
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.[10]
1000 m1:11.779 March 2019Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1500 m1:52.675 December 2021Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
3000 m4:21.5322 October 2010M-Wave, Nagano
Team sprint1:26.6222 November 2015Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Sprint comb.146.39025–26 February 2017Olympic Oval, CalgaryCurrent world record.[3]

World records

World records[11]
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]
Sprint comb.146.39025–26 February 2017Olympic Oval, CalgaryCurrent world record.[3]

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. 1 2 3 "Evolution of the world record Sprint combination Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Evolution of the world record 1000 meters Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 "Olympic Records". SpeedskatingResults.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  6. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Japan's Olympic champion Kodaira to retire". Reuters. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "Speed Skating – Records – Historical World Record 2 x 500m – Ladies". ISU. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  11. ↑ "Nao Kodaira". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
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