Speed skating at the 1980 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)	40.68	Inzell, West Germany	13 March 1976
Olympic record	Sheila Young (USA)	42.76	Innsbruck, Austria	6 February 1976

The following new Olympic record was set.

Date	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
15 February	Karin Enke (GDR)	41.78	OR

[1]

Rank	Pair	Lane	Athlete	Country	Time	Difference	Notes
	2	o	Karin Enke	East Germany	41.78	–	OR
	4	i	Leah Poulos-Mueller	United States	42.26	+0.48
	3	o	Natalya Petrusyova	Soviet Union	42.42	+0.64
4	1	i	Ann-Sofie Järnström	Sweden	42.47	+0.69
5	1	o	Makiko Nagaya	Japan	42.70	+0.92
6	4	o	Cornelia Jacob	East Germany	42.98	+1.20
7	3	i	Beth Heiden	United States	43.18	+1.40
8	9	o	Tetiana Tarasova	Soviet Union	43.26	+1.48
9	10	i	Sylvia Burka	Canada	43.43	+1.65
10	5	i	Irina Kuleshova-Kovrova	Soviet Union	43.50	+1.72
11	11	i	Erwina Ryś-Ferens	Poland	43.52	+1.74
12	5	o	Christa Rothenburger	East Germany	43.60	+1.82
13	10	o	Silvia Brunner	Switzerland	43.72	+1.94
14	16	i	Lee Nam-Sun	South Korea	43.85	+2.07
15	8	i	Haitske Valentijn-Pijlman	Netherlands	44.02	+2.24
16	14	i	Sylvia Filipsson	Sweden	44.05	+2.27
17	11	o	Sigrid Smuda	West Germany	44.11	+2.33
18	8	i	Kathy Vogt	Canada	44.15	+2.37
19	8	o	Sylvie Daigle	Canada	44.16	+2.38
20	12	o	Anneli Repola	Finland	44.33	+2.55
21	13	i	Cao Guifeng	China	44.43	+2.66
22	13	o	Annie Borckink	Netherlands	44.47	+2.69
23	2	i	Sarah Docter	United States	44.48	+2.70
24	6	o	Annette Carlén-Karlsson	Sweden	44.52	+2.74
25	9	i	Monika Pflug	West Germany	44.59	+2.81
26	14	o	Sijtje van der Lende	Netherlands	44.74	+2.96
27	12	i	Shen Guoqin	China	45.03	+3.25
28	7	o	Brigitte Flierl	West Germany	45.28	+3.50
29	15	i	Wang Limei	China	45.57	+3.79
30	16	o	Kim Ferran	Great Britain	47.25	+5.47
-	7	i	Marzia Peretti	Italy	DNF	–	Fall