Speed skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics

Speed skating at the XII Olympic Winter Games
Pictogram for speed skating
Venue	Eisschnellaufbahn
Dates	5–14 February 1976
No. of events	9
Competitors	111 from 19 nations
←  1972 1980  →

Speed skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, was held from 5 to 14 February. Nine events were contested at Eisschnelllaufbahn Innsbruck. ^[1] This was the first Olympics which included the men's 1000 metres, and the first change to the men's program at the Olympics since the elimination of the all-round event in 1928. ^[2]

Medal summary

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	4	2	3	9
2	United States	2	2	2	6
3	Norway	2	2	1	5
4	Netherlands	1	1	3	5
5	Canada	0	1	0	1
	East Germany	0	1	0	1
Totals (6 entries)		9	9	9	27

The Soviet Union led the medal table, with four gold and nine overall. The silver medal for East Germany's Andrea Ehrig-Mitscherlich was the country's first in speed skating.

Tatyana Averina led the individual medal table, winning a medal in all four women's events, two gold and two bronze. Sheila Young won three medals one of each value on the three shortest distances for women. The most successful male skaters were Norway's Sten Stensen and the Netherlands' Piet Kleine, who both won one gold and one silver medal, splitting the long distance events. The Dutch speed skater Hans van Helden won the bronze-medals on all the three longest distances for men. The Russian speed skater Valery Muratov also got a multiple set of medals with a silver medal in the 500 metres event and the bronze medal in the 1000 metres event.

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres details	Yevgeny Kulikov   Soviet Union	39.17 (OR)	Valery Muratov   Soviet Union	39.25	Dan Immerfall   United States	39.54
1000 metres details	Peter Mueller   United States	1:19.32 (OR)	Jørn Didriksen   Norway	1:20.45	Valery Muratov   Soviet Union	1:20.57
1500 metres details	Jan Egil Storholt   Norway	1:59.38 (OR)	Yury Kondakov   Soviet Union	1:59.97	Hans van Helden   Netherlands	2:00.87
5000 metres details	Sten Stensen   Norway	7:24.48	Piet Kleine   Netherlands	7:26.47	Hans van Helden   Netherlands	7:26.54
10,000 metres details	Piet Kleine   Netherlands	14:50.59 (OR)	Sten Stensen   Norway	14:53.30	Hans van Helden   Netherlands	15:02.02

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres details	Sheila Young   United States	42.76 (OR)	Cathy Priestner   Canada	43.12	Tatyana Averina   Soviet Union	43.17
1000 metres details	Tatyana Averina   Soviet Union	1:28.43 (OR)	Leah Poulos   United States	1:28.57	Sheila Young   United States	1:29.14
1500 metres details	Galina Stepanskaya   Soviet Union	2:16.58 (OR)	Sheila Young   United States	2:17.06	Tatyana Averina   Soviet Union	2:17.96
3000 metres details	Tatyana Averina   Soviet Union	4:45.19 (OR)	Andrea Mitscherlich   East Germany	4:45.23	Lisbeth Korsmo   Norway	4:45.24

Records

Eight out of the nine events, including the debuting men's 1000 metres, had new Olympic records set, with only the men's 5000 metres record remaining unbroken. ^{[3] [4]}

Event	Date	Team	Time	OR	WR
Men's 500 metres	10 February	Yevgeny Kulikov  (URS)	39.17	OR
Men's 1000 metres	12 February	Peter Mueller  (USA)	1:19.32	OR
Men's 1500 metres	13 February	Jan Egil Storholt  (NOR)	1:59.38	OR
Men's 10000 metres	14 February	Piet Kleine  (NED)	14:50.59	OR
Women's 500 metres	6 February	Sheila Young  (USA)	42.76	OR
Women's 1000 metres	7 February	Tatyana Averina  (URS)	1:28.43	OR
Women's 1500 metres	5 February	Galina Stepanskaya  (URS)	2:16.58	OR
Women's 3000 metres	8 February	Tatyana Averina  (URS)	4:45.19	OR

Participating NOCs

Nineteen nations competed in the speed skating events at Innsbruck.

•   Australia  (1)
•   Austria  (4)
•   Belgium  (2)
•   Canada  (8)
•   Finland  (4)
•   France  (2)
•   West Germany  (3)
•   Great Britain  (2)
•   East Germany  (9)
•   Italy  (6)
•   Japan  (9)
•   South Korea  (2)
•   Netherlands  (6)
•   Norway  (9)
•   Poland  (4)
•   Switzerland  (1)
•   Sweden  (9)
•   Soviet Union  (16)
•   United States  (14)

References

1. "Final Report - XII. Olympische Winterspiele Innsbruck 1976" (PDF). Organizing Committee for the XIIth Winter Olympic Games 1976. LA84 Foundation. 1976. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
2. "Speed Skating at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
3. "ISU - Speed Skating - Records - World Records". International Skating Union. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
4. "ISU - Speed Skating - Records - Olympic Records". International Skating Union. Retrieved 29 January 2014.