Short-track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres explained

Event:	Women’s 500 metres
Games:	2018 Winter
Venue:	Gangneung Ice Arena Gangneung, South Korea
Dates:	10 February (heats) 13 February (quarterfinals, semifinals, final)
Competitors:	32
Nations:	14
Gold:	Arianna Fontana
Goldnoc:	ITA
Win Value:	42.569
Silver:	Yara van Kerkhof
Silvernoc:	NED
Bronze:	Kim Boutin
Bronzenoc:	CAN
Prev:	2014
Next:	2022

The Women’s 500 metres in short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics took place from 10 to 13 February 2018 at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, South Korea.^[1] ^[2]

Summary

The defending champion from 2014, Li Jianrou, had retired, but the 2014 silver medalist Arianna Fontana competed and eventually won the event. Elise Christie and Choi Min-jeong, who set two Olympic records each in heats and quarterfinals, were considered heavy favorites. They both qualified to the final, but Christie crashed out and finished fourth, and Choi was disqualified for interference after initially finishing second.^[3] Fontana became the Olympic champion, with Yara van Kerkhof, who was advanced to the final, winning the silver, and Kim Boutin bronze.^[4] Fontana's gold medal was the first gold medal in women's short track speed skating won by a European athlete since 1988 (when Monique Velzeboer and the Italian relay team took gold).

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.Three Olympic records were set during the competition.

Date	Round	Athlete	Time	Record	Ref
10 February	Heat 8	Choi Min-jeong	42.870	OR	^[5]
13 February	Quarterfinal 2	Elise Christie	42.703	OR	^[6]
13 February	Semifinal 1	Choi Min-jeong	42.422	OR	^[7]

Results

Heats

Q – qualified for Quarterfinals^[8]

PEN – penalty

Rank	Heat	Name	Time
1	1	align=left	align=left	43.634	Q
2	1	align=left	align=left	43.725	Q
3	1	align=left	align=left	43.825
4	1	align=left	align=left	43.994
1	2	align=left	align=left	43.214	Q
2	2	align=left	align=left	43.274	Q
3	2	align=left	align=left
4	2	align=left	align=left
1	3	align=left	align=left	43.376	Q
2	3	align=left	align=left	43.430	Q
3	3	align=left	align=left	43.541
4	3	align=left	align=left	44.838
1	4	align=left	align=left	42.872	Q
2	4	align=left	align=left	42.971	Q
3	4	align=left	align=left	43.048
4	4	align=left	align=left	43.148
1	5	align=left	align=left	43.350	Q
2	5	align=left	align=left	43.665	Q
3	5	align=left	align=left	43.724
4	5	align=left	align=left	43.821
1	6	align=left	align=left	43.698	Q
2	6	align=left	align=left	43.719	Q
3	6	align=left	align=left	44.659
	6	align=left	align=left		PEN
1	7	align=left	align=left	43.437	Q
2	7	align=left	align=left	43.742	Q
3	7	align=left	align=left	43.771
4	7	align=left	align=left	44.311
1	8	align=left	align=left	42.870	Q, OR
2	8	align=left	align=left	55.670	Q
3	8	align=left	align=left	56.830
	8	align=left	align=left		PEN

Quarterfinals

Q – qualified for Semifinals^[9]

PEN – penalty

Rank	Heat	Name	Time
1	1	align=left	align=left	43.128	Q
2	1	align=left	align=left	43.197	Q
3	1	align=left	align=left	43.384
	1	align=left	align=left		PEN
1	2	align=left	align=left	42.703	Q, OR
2	2	align=left	align=left	42.789	Q
3	2	align=left	align=left	43.053
4	2	align=left	align=left	44.325
1	3	align=left	align=left	43.466	Q
2	3	align=left	align=left	43.485	Q
3	3	align=left	align=left	43.627
4	3	align=left	align=left	44.772
1	4	align=left	align=left	42.954	Q
2	4	align=left	align=left	42.996	Q
3	4	align=left	align=left	43.023
4	4	align=left	align=left	43.043

Semifinals

QA – qualified for Final A^[10]

QB – qualified for Final B

ADV – advanced

PEN – penalty

Rank	Semifinal	Name	Time
1	1	align=left	align=left	42.422	QA, OR
2	1	align=left	align=left	42.635	QA
3	1	align=left	align=left	43.219	QB
	1	align=left	align=left		PEN
1	2	align=left	align=left	43.182	QA
2	2	align=left	align=left	43.184	QA
3	2	align=left	align=left	43.234	ADV
	2	align=left	align=left		PEN

Final

Final B was scratched as Sofia Prosvirnova (5th place overall) was the only athlete who qualified for it.^[11]

Rank	Name	Time
	align=left	align=left	42.569
	align=left	align=left	43.256
	align=left	align=left	43.881
4	align=left	align=left
	align=left	align=left		PEN

Notes and References

Web site: Schedule. POCOG. 13 January 2018. 5 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171105010048/https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/schedule. dead.
Web site: Start list . 2018-02-13 . 2018-03-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180315232849/http://shorttrack.sportresult.com/Results.aspx?evt=11213100000056&gen=w&ref=18697&view=rou . dead .
Web site: Winter Olympics: Kim Boutin target of online abuse after bronze medal. BBC Sport. 17 February 2018. 14 February 2018.
News: History repeats itself as speed skater Elise Christie crashes out in final at Winter Olympics. Hodges. Vicky. 13 February 2018. The Telegraph. 13 February 2018.
Web site: Short Track Speed Skating (쇼트트랙 스피드 스케이팅 / Patinage de vitesse sur piste courte): Ladies' 500m Heats (여자 500m 예선 / 500 m femmes Séries éliminatoires) – Results (경기결과 / Résultats). PDF. Pyeongchang 2018. International Olympic Committee. 10 February 2018. 10 February 2018.
Web site: Short Track Speed Skating (쇼트트랙 스피드 스케이팅 / Patinage de vitesse sur piste courte): Ladies' 500m Quarterfinals (여자 500m 준준결승 / 500 m femmes Quarts de finale) – Results (경기결과 / Résultats). PDF. Pyeongchang 2018. International Olympic Committee. 13 February 2018. 14 February 2018.
Web site: Short Track Speed Skating (쇼트트랙 스피드 스케이팅 / Patinage de vitesse sur piste courte): Ladies' 500m Semifinals (여자 500m 준결승 / 500 m femmes Demi-finales) – Results (경기결과 / Résultats). PDF. Pyeongchang 2018. International Olympic Committee. 13 February 2018. 14 February 2018.
Web site: Heats results . 2018-02-13 . 2018-03-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180315232849/http://shorttrack.sportresult.com/Results.aspx?evt=11213100000056&gen=w&ref=18697&view=rou . dead .
Web site: Quarterfinals results . 2018-02-13 . 2018-03-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180315233140/http://shorttrack.sportresult.com/Results.aspx?evt=11213100000056&gen=w&ref=18701&view=rou . dead .
Web site: Semifinals results . 2018-02-13 . 2018-03-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180317070711/http://shorttrack.sportresult.com/Results.aspx?evt=11213100000056&gen=w&ref=18703&view=rou . dead .
Web site: Final results . 2018-02-13 . 2019-12-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191216234055/https://shorttrack.sportresult.com/Results.aspx?evt%3D11213100000056%26gen%3Dw%26ref%3D18705%26view%3Drou . dead .