1,000 metres, Women

The gold medal was conceded to Lidiya Skoblikova of the Soviet Union. She had won two gold medals at the 1960 Winter Olympics, in the 1,500 and 3,000, had won the 1963 World Championships and all four distances en route, and had already won the 500 and 1,500 in Innsbruck. She also held the world record of 1:31.8, set in Karuizawa, Japan in February 1963. The battle was for second place.

In the third pair, Irina Yegorova took an early lead with 1:34.3. Yegorova had finished second to Skoblikova in the 500 in Innsbruck, and was a top sprinter. Her time would hold up for the silver medal. But in the seventh pair, Skoblikova recorded 1:33.2, although she had been behind Yegorova’s splits at both 200 and 600 metres. Nobody else was close to those two times, as Finland’s Kaija Mustonen finished in 1:34.8 in the fifth pair. The next day, Skoblikova would finish her gold medal sweep by winning the 3,000 metres. For now, this was her fifth Olympic gold medal, counting two from Squaw Valley. Mustonen was somewhat of a surprise as, prior to 1964, she had never come close to the podium in any distance at a previous international tournament. But only the day before this race, she had won a silver medal in the 1,500 metres, giving her two Olympic medals in Innsbruck. She had also placed third in a pre-Olympic test 1,500 on 26 January, behind Skoblikova and Valentina Stenina. She would return in 1968 to win the gold medal in the 1,500 at Grenoble.