Speed skating at the 1960 Winter Olympics

Speed skating
at the VIII Olympic Winter Games
Speed skating; at the VIII Olympic Winter Games
	Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink in 1960
Venue	Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink
Date	20–27 February 1960
No. of events	8
Competitors	103 from 17 nations
	← 1956 1964 →

At the 1960 Winter Olympics, eight speed skating events were contested in Squaw Valley, California. For the first time in Olympic history, women participated in the Olympic speed skating events after the USOC's proposal to include the women's events was approved by the IOC. The competitions were held from Saturday, February 20, to Tuesday, February 23, 1960 (women), and from Wednesday, February 24, to Saturday, February 27, 1960 (men).^[1]

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres details	Yevgeny Grishin Soviet Union	40.2 =WR	Bill Disney United States	40.3	Rafayel Grach Soviet Union	40.4
1500 metres details	Roald Aas Norway Yevgeny Grishin Soviet Union	2:10.4	not awarded as there was a tie for gold		Boris Stenin Soviet Union	2:11.5
5000 metres details	Viktor Kosichkin Soviet Union	7:51.3	Knut Johannesen Norway	8:00.8	Jan Pesman Netherlands	8:05.1
10,000 metres details	Knut Johannesen Norway	15:46.6 WR	Viktor Kosichkin Soviet Union	15:49.2	Kjell Bäckman Sweden	16:14.2

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
500 metres details	Helga Haase United Team of Germany	45.9	Natalya Donchenko Soviet Union	46.0	Jeanne Ashworth United States	46.1
1000 metres details	Klara Guseva Soviet Union	1:34.1	Helga Haase United Team of Germany	1:34.3	Tamara Rylova Soviet Union	1:34.8
1500 metres details	Lidiya Skoblikova Soviet Union	2:25.2 WR	Elwira Seroczyńska Poland	2:25.7	Helena Pilejczyk Poland	2:27.1
3000 metres details	Lidiya Skoblikova Soviet Union	5:14.3	Valentina Stenina Soviet Union	5:16.9	Eevi Huttunen Finland	5:21.0

Participating nations

104 Athletes from seventeen nations competed in the speed skating events at Squaw Valley. Out of 249 entries, 8 did not finish and 1 got disqualified.