Geoff Stockdale

Geoff Stockdale started ice skating at the age of seven and took up speed skating as a 16-year-old. He made his England début in 1962 and between 1963-67 was five times British speed skating´s Victor Lodurum as the best all-round speed skater. Stockdale won the British quarter- and half-mile titles in 1964 and was a member of the Nottingham Ice Racing club that dominated the British Three-mile Relay Championship in the early part of the 1960s.

Stockdale appeared in the 500 and 1,500 metres at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics and that year also won the British one-mile title. He took two years away from the sport after the Olympics, however, before a successful comeback that saw him win gold in the 5,000 metres relay at the 1977 World Short Track Speed Skating Indoor Championships at Grenoble. Two years later he won bronze in the same event when the Championships were held at Québec City. Stockdale later became a speed skating coach.

Personal Bests: 500 – 41.4 (1968); 1000 – 1:27.0 (1968); 1500 – 2:15.6 (1968); 5000 – 8:31.2 (1968).