These are the results of the women's K-1 500 metres competition in canoeing at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Canoeing at the 1956 Summer Olympics

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, nine events in sprint canoe racing were contested. The program was unchanged from the previous two Games in 1948 and 1952. The competition was held on Lake Wendouree in Ballarat.-Men's events:...

. The K-1 event is raced by single-person canoe sprint kayaks. Heat and finals took place on December 1.

Medalists

Gold
Silver
Bronze

Heats

The ten competitors first raced in three heats. The top four finishers in each heat moved directly to the final.

Heat 1
1.		2:17.6	QF
2.		2:20.9	QF
3.		2:24.0	QF
4.		2:26.7	QF
5.		2:27.5
Heat 2
1.		2:23.7	QF
2.		2:25.3	QF
3.		2:25.8	QF
4.		2:29.4	QF
5.		2:31.4

Final

		2:18.9
		2:19.6
		2:22.3
4.		2:23.5
5.		2:23.8
6.		2:24.1
7.		2:25.3
8.		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.