Short-track speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres explained

Event:	Women's 500 metres
Games:	2022 Winter
Venue:	Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing
Date:	5 and 7 February
Competitors:	32
Nations:	15
Win Value:	42.488
Gold:	Arianna Fontana
Goldnoc:	ITA
Silver:	Suzanne Schulting
Silvernoc:	NED
Bronze:	Kim Boutin
Bronzenoc:	CAN
Prev:	2018
Next:	2026

The women's 500 metres competition in short track speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 5 February (heats) and 7 February (finals), at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.^[1] Arianna Fontana of Italy won the event, replicating her success in 2018. Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands took the silver, setting the Olympic record in one of the heats, and Kim Boutin of Canada won the bronze.

The defending champion was Fontana. The silver medalist, Yara van Kerkhof, and the bronze medalist, Boutin, who was also the world record holder, qualified as well. Van Kerkhof, however, was not selected to skate this distance. Schulting was the 2021 World Short Track Speed Skating champion at all distances, including 1500 m. Fontana and Selma Poutsma were the silver and bronze medalists, respectively. Many top athletes did not participate in the championship, however. Fontana was leading the 2021–22 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup at the 500 m distance with four races completed before the Olympics, followed by Boutin and Natalia Maliszewska. Maliszewska was not allowed to compete as she tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after her arrival in Beijing.^[2]

Qualification

Countries were assigned quotas based on their performance during the 2021–22 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup, with the top 32 athletes (maximum of three per country qualifying quotas. If a NOC declined a quota spot, it was distributed to the next available athlete, only if the maximum quota of 56 athletes per gender was not surpassed.^[3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.A new Olympic record was set during the competition.

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Time^[4]	Notes
1	1	43.472	Q
2	1	43.477	Q
3	1	44.681
4	1	54.758
1	2	43.275	Q
2	2	43.331	Q
3	2	43.905
4	2	45.515
1	3	42.732	Q
2	3	42.848	Q
3	3	42.919	q
4	3	44.053
1	4	42.379	Q, OR
2	4	42.991	Q
3	4	43.070	q
4	4	43.140
1	5	42.940	Q
2	5	43.233	Q
3	5	45.060
4	5
1	6	42.853	Q
2	6	43.606	Q
3	6	44.130
4	6
1	7	42.563	Q
2	7	42.691	Q
3	7	42.829	q
4	7	43.141
1	8	43.579	Q
2	8	43.605	Q
3	8	43.702	q
4	8	43.732

Quarterfinals

Rank	Heat	Time^[5]	Notes
1	1	42.391	Q
2	1	42.891	Q
3	1
4	1		ADV
	1		PEN
1	2	43.476	Q
2	2	43.712	Q
3	2	46.099
4	2
	2		PEN
1	3	42.635	Q
2	3	42.991	Q
3	3	54.211	ADV
4	3
	3		PEN
1	4	42.922	Q
2	4	43.029	Q
3	4	56.092
	4		PEN
	4		PEN

Semifinals

Rank	Heat	Time^[6]	Notes
1	1	42.387	QA
2	1	42.664	QA
3	1	42.685	QB
4	1	42.829	QB
5	1	44.044
1	2	42.475	QA
2	2	43.196	QA
3	2	43.198	QB
4	2	55.304	ADVA
	2		PEN

Finals

Final B

Rank	Name	Country	Time	Notes
6			42.972
7			43.004
8			43.273

Final A

Rank	Name	Country	Time^[7]	Notes
			42.488
			42.559
			42.724
4			42.803
5			42.941

Notes and References

Web site: Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Competition Schedule Version 9. PDF. New.inews.gtimg.com. 7 February 2022.
News: Kolejny zwrot akcji! Natalia Maliszewska nie została dopuszczona do startu . pl . 6 February 2022.
Web site: Qualification Systems for XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 Short Track Speed Skating. International Skating Union. 31 October 2021.
https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/static/owg2022/pdf/OWG2022/STK/OWG2022_STK_C73A_STKW500M--------------HEAT--------.pdf Heats results
https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/static/owg2022/pdf/OWG2022/STK/OWG2022_STK_C73A_STKW500M--------------QFNL--------.pdf Quarterfinals results
https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/static/owg2022/pdf/OWG2022/STK/OWG2022_STK_C73A_STKW500M--------------SFNL--------.pdf Semifinals results
https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/static/owg2022/pdf/OWG2022/STK/OWG2022_STK_C73A_STKW500M--------------FNL---------.pdf Finals results