The championships are held over a two-day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day (so-called sprint combination).

[1] The International Skating Union has organised the World Sprint Championships for Men and the World Sprint Championships for Women since 1970 and both are held at the same time and venue.

Since 2020, the men's and women's World Sprint Championships are held every even year – at same time and venue as the men's and women's World Allround Championships.

The (non-Olympic) team sprint world championship events are normally being held at the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships since 2019.

In a 2021–22 Olympic season this events were held during the 2022 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.