Background
Anne Henning grew up in Northbrook, Illinois and started in short track speed skating, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after her, switched to long track speed skating.
Anne Henning grew up in Northbrook, Illinois and started in short track speed skating, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after her, switched to long track speed skating.
During those championships, she set new world records in both her 500 m races. In 1972, Henning broke the world records on the 500 m and the 1,000 m, which made her the favourite on those distances at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. During her 500 m race against Sylvia Burka at those Olympics, Henning was obstructed at the crossing by Burka, but she still set the fastest time and a new Olympic record (4370).
In her re-skate, which she was allowed to take according to the rules, she improved her time to 43.33.
After that season, a still only 16 year old Henning retired from speed skating. Over the course of her career, Henning skated four world records:
To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (WR) lists the official world records on the dates that Henning skated her personal records.
In 1971, 15-year-old Henning won silver at the International Skating Union Sprint Championships, the forerunner of the World Sprint Championships. Aged 16, this made Henning the youngest Olympic Champion in the history of Olympic speed skating. On the 1,000 m, Henning took the bronze medal behind surprise winner Monika Pflug and only 0.01 seconds behind silver medallist Atje Keulen-Deelstra.
