The speed skating competition at the 1956 Winter Olympics was held from January 28 to January 31. 4 sets of awards for men were played.
The competition was attended by 83 athletes from 18 countries. The races were held on the ice of Lake Misurina at an altitude of 1755 m above sea level.
Soviet skaters, who took part in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time, confidently won the team event, winning 3 distances out of 4, and 7 out of 12 medals.
At a distance of 500 meters, Evgeny Grishin set a new Olympic and world record, at a distance of 1,500 meters Grishin and Yuri Mikhailov showed the same result, updating the Olympic and world records. At distances of 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Olympic records were updated.
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Medalists
Men
| Distance | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 500 m | Evgeny Grishin the USSR | Rafael Rook the USSR | Norway |
| 1,500 m | Evgeny Grishin the USSR Yuri Mikhailov the USSR | - | Finland |
| 5000 m | Boris Shilkov the USSR | Sigvard Ericsson Sweden | Oleg Goncharenko the USSR |
| 10,000 m | Sigvard Ericsson Sweden | Knut Johannesen Norway | Oleg Goncharenko the USSR |
Overall medal standings
| A place | A country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | the USSR | four | one | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | Sweden | one | one | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Norway | 0 | one | one | 2 |
| four | Finland | 0 | 0 | one | one |
| Total | five | 3 | four | 12 | |