Speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's 1500 metres Speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's 1500 metres The men's 1500 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. In reverse order of the 5000 metres, Jochem Uytdehaage first broke the world record, only to see it bettered by Derek Parra, who won the third US skating gold of the Games. He was the first Mexican-American to medal in a winter sport. Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
Winter Olympic Games have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles. Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports. The