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Nao Kodaira

Kodaira during the 2018 Olympics
Personal information
Native name	小平 奈緒
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1986-05-26) 26 May 1986 (age 38) Chino, Nagano, Japan
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Country	Japan
Sport	Speed skating
Event(s)	500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m
Retired	2022
Medal record Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang 500 m 2018 Pyeongchang 1000 m 2010 Vancouver Team pursuit World Single Distances Championships 2017 Gangneung 500 m 2020 Salt Lake City 500 m 2017 Gangneung 1000 m 2019 Inzell 500 m 2015 Heerenveen 500 m 2019 Inzell 1000 m World Sprint Championships 2017 Calgary Sprint 2019 Heerenveen Sprint 2020 Hamar Sprint Asian Winter Games 2017 Sapporo 500 m 2017 Sapporo 1000 m 2011 Astana/Almaty 1500 m Winter Universiade 2009 Harbin 1500m 2007 Turin 1000m 2009 Harbin 1000m

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. 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.

She is the current world record holder in the 2×500 metres and the sprint combination, and the former world record holder in the 1000 metres and the team sprint, as well as the current Olympic and Japanese record holder in the 500 metres.

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. 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.

Records

Personal records

World records

Olympic records

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. ^ "Evolution of the world record Sprint combination Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
4. ^ "Evolution of the world record 1000 meters Women". speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
5. ^ "Olympic Records". SpeedskatingResults.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
6. ^ "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.

External links

• Nao Kodaira at the International Skating Union
• Nao Kodaira in SpeedSkatingBase.eu (archived)
• Nao Kodaira at SpeedSkatingNews.info
• Nao Kodaira at SpeedSkatingStats.com
• Nao Kodaira at Olympics.com
• Nao Kodaira at Olympedia

Records
Preceded by Heather Bergsma	Women's sprint combination speed skating world record 26 February 2017 – present	Succeeded byCurrent holder
Preceded by Brittany Bowe	Women's 1000 m speed skating world record 10 December 2017 – 9 March 2019	Succeeded by Brittany Bowe

• 1986 births
• Japanese female speed skaters
• Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics
• Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics
• Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic speed skaters for Japan
• Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
• Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Olympic medalists in speed skating
• Olympic gold medalists for Japan
• Olympic silver medalists for Japan
• Speed skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games
• Speed skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
• Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games
• Medalists at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
• Asian Games medalists in speed skating
• Asian Games gold medalists for Japan
• Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan
• Sportspeople from Nagano Prefecture
• Winter World University Games medalists in speed skating
• Living people
• World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists
• World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists
• FISU World University Games gold medalists for Japan
• FISU World University Games silver medalists for Japan
• FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Japan
• Speed skaters at the 2007 Winter Universiade
• Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade
• Medalists at the 2007 Winter Universiade
• 21st-century Japanese sportswomen