The American Chad Hedrick, a former inline skater, began his quest to emulate Eric Heiden by taking five gold medals by racing a time of 6:14.68, 0.02 second behind the four-year-old Olympic record of Jochem Uytdehaage, which was enough to clinch gold.

Dutchman Sven Kramer won the silver medal, 1.72 seconds adrift, while home skater Enrico Fabris claimed Italy's first medal by skating home the bronze in the last pair.

[1] Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

No new world or Olympic records were set during this competition.

Although, American Chad Hedrick missed out on the Olympic record by just 0.02 second.