Anna ("Anni") Christine Friesinger-Postma is a German former speed skater. Her father Georg Friesinger, of Germany, and mother Janina ("Jana") Korowicka, of Poland, were both skaters; Jana was on the Polish team at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Her brother Jan is also a speed skater. Her sister Agnes is a former speed skater. In July 2010, Friesinger retired from her active sports career when she had to be treated for severe cartilage damage in her right knee joint.
Cindy Klassen, is a Canadian retired long track speed skater. She is a six-time medallist having achieved one gold, two silver, three bronze at the Winter Olympics.
Irene Karlijn "Ireen" Wüst is a Dutch former long track speed skater. Wüst became the most successful speed skating Olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances. Wüst is the second athlete to win a gold medal at five consecutive Olympics, Summer or Winter, and the first to do so in individual events.
Kristina Nicole Groves is a Canadian retired speed skater. She is Canada's most decorated skater in the World Single Distances Championships with 13 career medals in this event. She won four Olympic medals: she won two silver medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, in the 1,500 meters and team pursuit, and she won the silver medal in the 1500 m event and the bronze medal in the 3000 m event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Christine Nesbitt is a Canadian retired long track speed skater who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She had previously won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She is also the 2011 sprint champion, 2012 1500 metres world champion, three-time world champion for 1000 metres, and three-time world champion for team pursuit. On 4 June 2015 she announced her retirement.
Nina Andreyevna Statkevich is a former speed skater who competed for the Soviet Union.
Andrea Ehrig is a retired East German speed skater. She was one of the world's best long-distance skaters in the 1980s. A four-time Olympian, she won seven Olympic medals, including gold in the 3000 metres at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Martina Sáblíková is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in 2010. Sáblíková also competes in inline speed skating and road cycling races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In cycling, she focuses on individual time trial discipline in which Sáblíková holds multiple Czech Republic National Championships titles and belongs to the world's top 15 female time-trialists. Sáblíková is the elder sister of fellow speedskater Milan Sáblík.
Speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at the Richmond Olympic Oval, Richmond, British Columbia, between 13 and 27 February 2010.
Katherine Reutter-Adamek is an American short track speed skater. She is a two-time medalist in the Winter Olympics, 2011 overall world silver medalist and the 2010–2011 overall ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup champion.
Park Seung-hi is a former South Korean short track and long track speed skater. She is the 2010 Overall World Champion. She won two gold medals and three bronze medals at 2010 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Olympics. Her sister is Park Seung-ju, a long track speed skater, and her brother Park Se-yeong, a short track speed skater. She switched to long-track speed skating after the 2014 Sochi Olympics. After the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics Park announced her retirement from speedskating.
Sarah Beth Docter is a retired American short track and long track speed skater. She won several U.S. national championships in the 1970s, and in 1978 she won U.S. national titles in both short track and long track. That year she went on to the world short-track championships, in which she won the 1500 m and 3000 m events and the overall competition. In 1980, she competed in all speed skating events at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, with the best achievement of tenth place in the 3000 m. In addition to skating career, she is also a cyclist, and once took part in the World Cycling Championships.
Karolína Erbanová is a Czech ice hockey player and retired long-track speed skater. She won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the 500 m event in speed skating.
Sachiko Saito was a Japanese speed skater. She competed at the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics in the 500, 1000 and 1500 m events with the best achievement of ninth place in the 500 m in 1972. She badly fell on the same distance in 1968.
Tatyana Rastopshyna-Shelekhova. She won a silver allround medal at the world championships in 1973 and a bronze allround medal at the European championships in 1974. She competed in 1000 m and 3000 m at the 1976 Winter Olympics and finished in 15th and 14th place, respectively.
Anna Aleksandrovna Sablina is a retired Russian speed skater. She competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics in the 3000 m and finished in eighth place.
Erwina Lilia Ryś-Ferens was a Polish speed skater.
Sijtje van der Lende is a former speed skater from the Netherlands and a skating coach. She competed at the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics in all distances from 500 to 3000 m. Her best achievement was ninth place in the 3000 m in 1976.
Haitske Pijlman is a retired speed skater from the Netherlands who was active between 1975 and 1980. She competed at the 1980 Winter Olympics in the 500 and 1000 m and finished in 15th and 14th place, respectively. She won a bronze medal at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Women in 1977.
The 37th edition of the World Allround Speed Skating Championships 1976 took place on 21 and 22 February in Gjøvik, Norway at the Gjøvik Stadion ice rink.
East Germany 
