The women's K-1 500 metres was a competition in canoeing at the 1956 Summer Olympics. The K-1 event is raced by single-person canoe sprint kayaks. Heat and finals took place on December 1.
Medalists edit
 Gold
|
 Silver
|
 Bronze
|
 Yelizaveta Dementyeva (URS)
|
 Therese Zenz (EUA)
|
 Tove Søby (DEN)
|
Heats edit
The ten competitors first raced in three heats. The top four finishers in each heat moved directly to the final.
| Heat 1 | |||
| 1. | Therese Zenz (EUA) |
2:17.6 | QF |
| 2. | Yelizaveta Dementyeva (URS) |
2:20.9 | QF |
| 3. |  Edith Cochrane (AUS) |
2:24.0 | QF |
| 4. |  Patricia Moody (GBR) |
2:26.7 | QF |
| 5. |  Helga Hellebrand (AUT) |
2:27.5 | |
| Heat 2 | |||
| 1. | Tove Søby (DEN) |
2:23.7 | QF |
| 2. |  Cecilia Berkes (HUN) |
2:25.3 | QF |
| 3. |  Daniela Walkowiak (POL) |
2:25.8 | QF |
| 4. |  Eva Marion (FRA) |
2:29.4 | QF |
| 5. |  Eila Eskola (FIN) |
2:31.4 | |
Final edit
| |
Yelizaveta Dementyeva (URS) |
2:18.9 |
| |
Therese Zenz (EUA) |
2:19.6 |
| |
Tove Søby (DEN) |
2:22.3 |
| 4. | Cecilia Berkes (HUN) |
2:23.5 |
| 5. | Edith Cochrane (AUS) |
2:23.8 |
| 6. | Daniela Walkowiak (POL) |
2:24.1 |
| 7. | Patricia Moody (GBR) |
2:25.3 |
| 8. | Eva Marion (FRA) |
2:27.9 |
Dementyeva false-started once, then won the event by two meters after spurting to the lead after the start. Fifth-place finisher Cochrane never trained with or competed against women prior to the Olympics.
References edit
- 1956 Summer Olympics official report. pp. 409–10.
- Sports-reference.com women's 1956 K-1 500 m results.
- Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Canoeing: Women's Kayak Singles 500 Meters". In The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. pp. 490–1.