- Since 1970, four distances are skated: 500 m, 1000 m, 500 m and 1000 m (the sprint combination).
- In 2022, team sprint event has been held as well.
Ranking systems used
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- Since 1970, the samalog system has been in use. However, the rule that a skater winning at least three distances was automatically World Champion remained in effect until (and including) 1986.
- Igor Zhelezovski has won a total of six World Championships while representing the Soviet Union (four times in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991), the Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS (once in 1992) and Belarus (once in 1994).
- Jeremy Wotherspoon from Canada has a record 9 medals, 8 of which were won in consecutive championships (1998–2005) – four golds (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003), four silvers (1998, 2004, 2005, 2008) and one bronze (2001).
- Eric Heiden from the United States has won four consecutive world championships, in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.
- The youngest World Sprint Champion is Eric Heiden from the United States who won his first of four world sprint titles in 1977 at age 18.
- The oldest World Sprint Champion is Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea who won his fourth and last world sprint title in 2011 at age 32.
- There are three skaters who co-hold record by number of participations in the championships (15 times) – Gerard van Velde from Netherlands (in 1991–2007), Hiroyasu Shimizu from Japan (in 1993–2007) and Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea (in 1998–2014).
- The biggest point margin between the winner and the second placed skater at the end of competition is 3.050 points between Eric Heiden from the United States and Frode Rønning from Norway in 1978.
- The smallest winning margin between the champion and the runner-up is 0.010 points between Gaétan Boucher from Canada and Sergey Khlebnikov from the Soviet Union in 1984.
- There are two speed skaters who become World Sprint Champions by winning all four distances at the championships – Eric Heiden from the United States (1979) and Igor Zhelezovski who represented the Commonwealth of Independent States or CIS (1992).
- Manabu Horii from Japan is the only skater who won three of four distances at the championships but failed to win world title (1997). Due to fall, he finished only 33rd at first distance (500 m) and in overall point classification.
- By contrast, there are 8 speed skaters who become World Sprint Champions without winning any of four distances – Valery Muratov from the Soviet Union (1970), Johan Granath from Sweden (1976), Akira Kuroiwa from Japan (1987), Bae Ki-tae from South Korea (1990), Mike Ireland from Canada (2001), Lee Kyou-hyuk from South Korea (2007), Michel Mulder from Netherlands (2013) and Kai Verbij from Netherlands (2017).
- Eric Heiden and Shani Davis (both from the United States) are only men's speed skaters who become champions both at the World Sprint and the World Allround Championships. Heiden won three World Allround Championships in 1977–1979 and four World Sprint Championships in 1977–1980. He remained the only men's speed skater who win both championships in one calendar year by firstly achieving this feat in 1977 and then repeating this success in 1978 and 1979. Shani Davis is the only men's speed skater who won world titles at three different championships – World Allround Championships (2005 and 2006), World Sprint Championships (2009) and World Single Distances Championships (8 gold medals in 2004–2015).
Combined medal table
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World champions (sprint combination)
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Netherlands
United States
Soviet Union
Canada
South Korea
Russia
Japan
Norway
Finland
Sweden
Belarus
CIS
China
West Germany
East Germany
Australia
Poland
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Igor Zhelezovski
Eric Heiden