| Event: | World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships |
| Venue: | Vikingskipet (Hamar) |
| Dates: | 15–17 March 1996 |
| Next: | 1997 Warsaw |
The 1996 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships were held between 15 and 17 March 1996 in the Vikingskipet, Hamar, Norway. This was the first World Single Distance championships.
| Date | Events |
|---|---|
| March 15 | 5000 m men |
| 500 m women (1st) | |
| 500 m women (2nd) | |
| 3000 m women | |
| March 16 | 500 m men (1st) |
| 500 m men (2nd) | |
| 1500 m men | |
| 1000 m women | |
| 5000 m women | |
| March 17 | 1000 m men |
| 10000 m men | |
| 1500 m women |
| 500 m [1] | Hiroyasu Shimizu | 1:12.06 35.91 36.15 | Sergey Klevchenya | 1:12.21 36.13 36.08 | Roger Strøm | 1:12.85 36.62 36.23 | |
| 1000 m [2] | Sergey Klevchenya | 1:13.30 | Ådne Søndrål | 1:13.78 | Jaegal Sung-yeol | 1:14.16 | |
| 1500 m [3] | Jeroen Straathof | 1:53.94 | Ådne Søndrål | 1:54.14 | Martin Hersman | 1:54.38 | |
| 5000 m [4] | Ids Postma | 6:47.09 | Keiji Shirahata | 6:47.20 | Gianni Romme | 6:48.21 | |
| 10000 m [5] | Gianni Romme | 14:05.46 | Bart Veldkamp | 14:15.20 | Frank Dittrich | 14:15.33 |
| 500 m [6] | Svetlana Zhurova | 1:19.30 39.73 39.57 | Kyoko Shimazaki | 1:19.47 39.90 39.57 | Tomomi Okazaki | 1:19.56 39.81 39.75 | |
| 1000 m [7] | Annamarie Thomas | 1:21.01 | Chris Witty | 1:21.25 | Emese Hunyady | 1:21.53 | |
| 1500 m [8] | Annamarie Thomas | 2:04.46 | Claudia Pechstein | 2:05.22 | Sandra Zwolle | 2:05.26 | |
| 3000 m [9] | Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann | 4:13.83 | Claudia Pechstein | 4:18.17 | Lyudmila Prokasheva | 4:20.90 | |
| 5000 m [10] | Claudia Pechstein | 7:26.36 | Carla Zijlstra | 7:28.79 | Elena Belci-Dal Farra | 7:30.66 |