Inline speed skating is the sport of racing on inline skates (Roller sports) It is often called inline racing by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice speed skating that many competitors are now known to switch between inline and ice speed skating according to the season.

An inline speed skate is a specialized shoe version of the inline skate. The boot or shoe is close-fitting, without much padding and usually made of leather and carbon fiber and/or fiberglass composites. For best performance the boot must conform closely to the shape of the foot, so most inline speed skating boots are heat-moldable, which allows the user to re-shape the boots to some extent when heat is applied (by placing the boots in oven at 185 °F (85 °C) for 15 minutes after taking off the wheels, frames, and straps/buckles). It is also quite common to have boots custom-made, for improved fit.

Speed skating boots are low-cut and offer little ankle support, allowing the skater extra ankle movement. Skin blisters due to friction can be a problem, and common solutions include: neoprene or silicone "ankle bootee" such as "Ezeefit" or "Bunga Pads", double thin synthetic socks, smaller boots, improving technique, re-moulding the boots, sports tape, and use of "advanced healing" plasters to help recovery.

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. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The ISU, the governing body of both ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating".

The standard rink for long track is 400 meters long, but tracks of 200, 250 and 333⅓ meters are used occasionally. It is one of two Olympic forms of the sport and the one with the longer history. An international federation was founded in 1892, the first for any winter sport. The sport enjoys large popularity in the Netherlands and Norway. There are top international rinks in a number of other countries, including Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Russia. A World Cup circuit is held with events in the those countries and with two events in Thialf, the ice hall in Heerenveen, Netherlands.