| Sylke Luding | |
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| Country: | East Germany |
| Club: | SC Einheit Dresden |
| Birth Date: | 1 December 1968 |
| Medaltemplates: | German Single Distance Championships |
Sylke Luding (born 1 December 1968[1]) is a former East German long track speed skater, who was active between 1982 and 1991.[2] She was a member of and the East Germany national sprint team and represented her nation at international competitions.
As a junior she won the bronze medal at the 1987 World Junior Speed Skating Championships. At the end of the season she set three world records during an international competition between East Germany and the Soviet Union.[3] She set twice the 500 metre world record. Besides of that she set the sprint classification world record.[4] [5] For several years skaters struggled with this time.[6] The record was finally broken in November 1990 by Kyoko Shimazaki.[7]
At elite level she made her ISU Speed Skating World Cup debut during the in the sprint distances in Davos and Berlin. She had three top-8 classifications at the World Cups. She rode her last World Cup race during the in Berlin.[8] Due to an injury she couldn't start at events.[9] She also competed at other international competitions.
She won three bronze medals at the German Single Distance Championships in the 500 metres (2x) and 1000 metres (1x). Between 1985 and 1990 she had at least 10 starts at national championships. She had tough skating competition from her teammates in SC Einheit Dresden which was in the world top class from the skaters Karin Kania (olympic champion), Andrea Ehrig (olympic champion), Christa Rothenburger (olympic champion), Skadi Walter (olympic top-5), Carola Bürger and Heike Pöhland.
Her mental coach was Olympic medalist in both speed skating and cycling Christa Rothenburger.[11]
Luding is the daughter of sprint speed skating coach Ernst Luding of his first marriage. Later he married with Christa Rothenburger.[11] [12]