The earth revolves round the sun in an elliptical orbit. Its speed is:

going on decreasing continuously greatest when it is closest to the sun greatest when it is farthest from the sun constant at all the points on the orbit.

greatest when it is closest to the sun

Conservation of angular momentum of the planet yields, mv1r1 = mv2r2 ⇒ v1 r1 = v2 r2 ∴ At closest distance speed is maximum.