The competition was held on the Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink and for the first time at the Olympics on artificially frozen ice.

Thirty speed skaters from 15 nations competed.

(*) The record was set on naturally frozen ice.

(**) The record was set in a high altitude venue (more than 1000 metres above sea level) and on naturally frozen ice.

At first Kjell Bäckman bettered the world record with 16:14.2 minutes.