All-round speed skating mathematically unfair.
All-round speed skating championships; towards a fair play using principal component analysis
In June 2014, the International Skating Union decided to replace the 10.000 meter for men and the 5.000 meter for women by a 1.000 meter race at European all-round speed skating tournaments. We use principal component analysis to categorize speed skaters into ‘sprinters’ and ‘stayers’. We show that sprinters are in favour by the new rule, but stayers are in favour in the current set-up of the championship. We propose two alternative set-ups, in which the level of the speed skater correlates more with the final ranking, and in which the fact whether the skater is a stayer or a sprinter is less important.
Full article, click here: Miriam Loois-speed skating and statistics