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What is the speedskating mass start?

By Shea Corrigan

MILWAUKEE, WI - JANUARY 07: Joey Mantia leads a group of skaters in the Men's Mass Start event during the Long Track Speed Skating Olympic Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center on January 7, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - JANUARY 07: Joey Mantia leads a group of skaters in the Men's Mass Start event during the Long Track Speed Skating Olympic Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center on January 7, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
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The final speedskating event of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics is a new one. What is the speedskating mass start?

Early on Saturday morning, Feb. 24, Olympic speedskaters will compete in their final event of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. It’s a new event and one that American and current mass start world champion Joey Mantia described as “like NASCAR on ice” before knocking his own sport (?) by saying “it’s definitely more exciting to watch than standard long-track races.” This is, according to Mantia, on account of the bumping, drafting and strategy.

The mass start is, rather intuitively, a speedskating race in which a mass (anywhere up to 24 skaters) start at the same time and sprint 16 laps to the finish (approximately 6,400-meters). But it’s more interesting than that, because that would essentially be long track speedskating in the style of short track speedskating.

No, the mass start is divided into four sprints. The top three finishers in these sprints get points and the first three to cross the finish line get points. The podium is determined by the first three to cross the finish line (which is novel for speedskaters, but pretty normal for everyone else who is ever participated or seen a race), but the rest of the standings are determined by sprint points.

NBC says the mass start will bring “a new element of chaos and excitement to speedskating” and frankly, we can always do with more chaos in the Olympics.

There will be strategy, there will be endurance, there will be pandemonium. It will be a grand old time.

The speedskating mass start at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics starts at 6 a.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 24 with the men’s race, followed by the women’s.

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