Speed skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:[3][4]

World record	Sheila Young (USA)	40.91	Davos, Switzerland	31 January 1976
Olympic record	Anne Henning (USA)	43.33	Sapporo, Japan	10 February 1972

The following new World and Olympic records was set during the competition:

Date	Pair	Athlete	Country	Time	OR	WR
6 February	Pair 4	Cathy Priestner	Canada	43.12	OR
6 February	Pair 5	Sheila Young	United States	42.76	OR

[1]

Rank	Pair	Lane	Athlete	Country	Time	Difference	Notes
	5	o	Sheila Young	United States	42.76	–	OR
	4	i	Cathy Priestner	Canada	43.12	+0.36
	12	o	Tatyana Averina	Soviet Union	43.17	+0.41
4	8	i	Leah Poulos	United States	43.21	+0.45
5	9	o	Vera Krasnova	Soviet Union	43.23	+0.47
6	3	i	Lyubov Sadchikova	Soviet Union	43.80	+1.04
7	9	i	Makiko Nagaya	Japan	43.88	+1.12
8	6	o	Paula-Irmeli Halonen	Finland	43.99	+1.23
9	14	i	Lori Monk	United States	44.00	+1.24
10	2	i	Heike Lange	East Germany	44.21	+1.45
11	10	i	Sylvia Burka	Canada	44.35	+1.59
12	4	o	Monika Pflug	West Germany	44.36	+1.60
13	1	i	Ann-Sofie Järnström	Sweden	44.49	+1.73
14	10	o	Stanisława Pietruszczak	Poland	44.68	+1.92
15	12	i	Ines Bautzmann	East Germany	44.87	+2.11
16	1	o	Sigrid Sundby-Dybedahl	Norway	45.00	+2.24
17	3	o	Keiko Hasegawa	Japan	45.09	+2.33
18	5	i	Erwina Ryś-Ferens	Poland	45.37	+2.61
19	7	i	Christa Jaarsma	Netherlands	45.45	+2.69
20	7	o	Ute Dix	East Germany	45.60	+2.84
21	13	i	Kathy Vogt	Canada	45.62	+2.86
22	8	o	Sylvia Filipsson	Sweden	45.97	+3.21
23	6	i	Annie Borckink	Netherlands	46.00	+3.24
24	13	o	Sijtje van der Lende	Netherlands	46.06	+3.30
25	11	i	Lee Nam-sun	South Korea	46.33	+3.57
26	11	o	Ewa Malewicka	Poland	46.67	+3.91	Fall
27	2	o	Linda Rombouts	Belgium	48.31	+5.56