Speed skating consists of 12 events, which along with cross-country is the most number of events per sport at the Games.

All events are skated once, with the exception of the men's and women's 500 metres, which are skated twice. The final result in the 500m is based on the total time of two races.

Speed skating is one of the few Winter Olympic sports where time and speed records are significant (in that in many other sports, the variety of terrain and the conditions of the competition track render time or speed records meaningless).

Click here to view information on the venue for this sport at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.