Clap skates were developed at the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, led by Gerrit Jan van Ingen Schenau, although the idea of a clap skate is much older; designs dating from around 1900 are known.
The clap skate was first used in the 1984/1985 skating season. It was however not until the 1990s that the idea was taken seriously. In the 1996/1997 season, the Dutch female team started using the skates, and with great success. The rest of the skating world soon followed suit, causing a rain of World Records in the following seasons, including the 1998 Olympic Winter Games at Nagano, Japan. Nowadays, all top level skaters use clap skates.