Samalog is a scoring system in speed skating

Speed skating

Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in order to determine an overall champion. All times are measured in second

Second

The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock....

s and then converted to points, using the average times on 500 meter units; thus the number of points for a 1,000 meters race is the time in seconds divided by two (so the average time for each of the two 500 meter "units" in a 1,000 meters race); for the 1,500 meters, the time in seconds is divided by three, and so on. Points are calculated to three decimal places and truncation is applied; the numbers are not rounded. All points are added up; the lower the score the better.

The samalog method is used in national and international allround speed skating events, with the most prominent being the European Championships

European Speed Skating Championships

The European Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of Europe. The International Skating Union has organised the European Championships for Men since 1893 and the European Championships for Women since 1970. The...

 and the World Allround Championships

World Allround Speed Skating Championships

The World Allround Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of the world...

. The samalog method is also used in two-day sprint championships, such as the World Sprint Championship

World Sprint Speed Skating Championships

The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. The championships are held over a two day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day...

, where each of the two sprint distances (the 500 meters and the 1,000 meters) is skated twice.

The ranking of samalog scores based on a skater's personal records in official championships over the skater's entire career is called the Adelskalender.

Although any combination of any number of events is possible, the following combinations (all consisting of four events) are commonly used or have been commonly used in the past:

• Sprint combination: 500 m, 1000 m, 500 m, 1000 m — this format is used at the World Sprint Championships (for both men and women).
• Old combination: 500 m, 1000 m, 3000 m, 5000 m — this format was used at the World Allround Championships for women up to 1955.
• Mini combination: 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m — this format was used at the World Allround Championships for women in the years 1956-1982.
• Small combination: 500 m, 1500 m, 3000 m, 5000 m — this format is currently used at the World Allround Championships for women (since 1983).
• Big combination: 500 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, 10000 m — this format is used at the World Allround Championships for men.