| | Event type

500 metres, Women

Date	5 – 7 February 2022
Status	Olympic
Location	Shoudu Tiyguan, Beijing
Participants	32 from 15 countries
Format	Placements 1-8 based on final and B final. Deeper placements based on placements in earlier rounds, and best time skated.
Olympic Record	42.422 / Choi Min-Jeong KOR / 13 February 2018 / Details

One of the medal contenders for the 500 m, Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska, was unable to race in Beijing as she was still in quarantine due to a positive COVID19 test. Even more dramatically, 2019 World Champion Lara van Ruijven (NED) had passed away in 2020 as the result of an autoimmune disease.

All of the other favorites were there: 2018 champion Arianna Fontana, as well as her main rival and 2021 World Champion Suzanne Schulting. In addition to Fontana, Schulting, and Maliszewska, the fourth skater to win a 500 m World Cup earlier in the season was Canada’s Kim Boutin, also the 2018 bronze medalist.

There were no upsets in the heats, but the quarter-finals saw the surprise exit of 2018 World Champion Choi Min-Jeong. Boutin led most of the first semi-final. At the bell, Fontana displayed her form by overtaking the Canadian on the outside, winning by a clear margin. Boutin held on for second, beating Yelena Seryogina by half a blade. Schulting also impressed in her semi, opening a large gap right from the start and finishing unchallenged. Belgium’s Hanne Desmet seemed to hold on for second, but was tripped by Qu Chunyu and thus advanced to the final along with second-placed Zhang Yuting.

The final had some trouble getting underway. After a false start, the field got underway, with Schulting and Fontana battling it out for the lead. The Italian fell, but as this was within the first half lap, the race was restarted again. Despite Fontana starting from the inside lane, it was Schulting leading after the first curve. But unlike the semi-finals, she was unable to build out that advantage, with Fontana remaining closely behind. With 1½ laps to go, the Italian made a decisive pass on the inside of Schulting, and Fontana held on to retain the title she won in 2018, making her the third athlete with back-to-back wins in the event. For Fontana, it was her 10th Olympic medal in the sport, a record. With Schulting in second and Boutin in third, the podium was very similar to PyeongChang, with only Schulting taking her compatriot Yara van Kerkhof’s place in second.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Position Last Race	Positions	Best Time
1	Arianna Fontana	ITA	AF-1	1-1-1	42.387	Gold
2	Suzanne Schulting	NED	AF-2	1-1-1	42.379	Silver
3	Kim Boutin	CAN	AF-3	2-1-1	42.391	Bronze
4	Zhang Yuting	CHN	AF-4	2-3-2	42.803
5	Hanne Desmet	BEL	AF-5	4-2-3	42.941
6	Yelena Seryogina	ROC	BF-1	3-2-2	42.685
7	Petra Jászapáti	HUN	BF-2	3-1-2	42.848
8	Alyson Charles	CAN	BF-3	4-4-2	42.891
9	Arianna Valcepina	ITA	SF-5	5-3-2	42.691
10	Qu Chunyu	CHN	SF-DQ	0-2-2	43.275
11	Fan Kexin	CHN	QF-3	0-3-1	42.829
12	Sumire Kikuchi	JPN	QF-3	0-3-3	42.829
13	Maame Biney	USA	QF-3	0-3-3	42.919
14	Choi Min-Jeong	KOR	QF-4	0-4-1	42.853
15	Selma Poutsma	NED	QF-4	0-41	43.472
16	Xandra Velzeboer	NED	QF-DQ	0-0-1	42.563
17	Kristen Santos	USA	QF-DQ	0-0-1	43.579
18	Sofya Prosvirnova	ROC	QF-DQ	0-0-2	43.331
19	Florence Brunelle	CAN	QF-DQ	0-0-2	43.477
20	Martina Valcepina	ITA	QF-DQ	0-0-2	43.606
21	Zsófia Kónya	HUN	R1-3	0-0-3	43.905
22	Patrycja Maliszewska	POL	R1-3	0-0-3	44.130
23	Valentina Aščić	CRO	R1-3	0-0-3	44.681
24	Michaela Sejpalová	CZE	R1-3	0-0-3	45.060
25	Yekaterina Yefremenkova	ROC	R1-4	0-0-4	43.140
26	Lee Yu-Bin	KOR	R1-4	0-0-4	43.141
27	Nikola Mazur	POL	R1-4	0-0-4	43.732
28	Kamila Stormowska	POL	R1-4	0-0-4	44.053
29	Gwendoline Daudet	FRA	R1-4	0-0-4	45.515
30	Tifany Huot-Marchand	FRA	R1-4	0-0-4	54.758
31	Kathryn Thomson	GBR	R1-4	0-0-4	1:06.594
32	Corie Stoddard	USA	R1-4	0-0-4	–

Round One

Date	5 February 2022 — 19:00
Format	Top 2 finishers in each heat advanced to quarter-finals.

Heat #1

Time	19:00

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Selma Poutsma	NED	43.472	Q
2	Florence Brunelle	CAN	43.477	Q
3	Valentina Aščić	CRO	44.681
4	Tifany Huot-Marchand	FRA	54.758

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Fan Kexin	CHN	43.275	Q
2	Sofya Prosvirnova	ROC	43.331	Q
3	Zsófia Kónya	HUN	43.905
4	Gwendoline Daudet	FRA	45.515

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Kim Boutin	CAN	42.732	Q
2	Petra Jászapáti	HUN	42.848	Q
3	Maame Biney	USA	42.919	q
4	Kamila Stormowska	POL	44.053

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Suzanne Schulting	NED	42.379	QOR
2	Alyson Charles	CAN	42.991	Q
3	Arianna Valcepina	ITA	43.070	q
4	Yekaterina Yefremenkova	ROC	43.140

Heat #5

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Arianna Fontana	ITA	42.940	Q
2	Zhang Yuting	CHN	43.233	Q
3	Michaela Sejpalová	CZE	45.060
4	Corie Stoddard	USA	–

Heat #6

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Choi Min-Jeong	KOR	42.853	Q
2	Martina Valcepina	ITA	43.606	Q
3	Patrycja Maliszewska	POL	44.130
4	Kathryn Thomson	GBR	1:06.594

Heat #7

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Xandra Velzeboer	NED	42.563	Q
2	Qu Chunyu	CHN	42.691	Q
3	Sumire Kikuchi	JPN	42.829	q
4	Lee Yu-Bin	KOR	43.141

Heat #8

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Kristen Santos	USA	43.579	Q
2	Yelena Seryogina	ROC	43.605	Q
3	Hanne Desmet	BEL	43.702	q
4	Nikola Mazur	POL	43.732

Quarter-Finals

Date	7 February 2022 — 19:30
Format	Top 2 finishers in each heat advanced to semi-finals.

Heat #1

Time	19:30

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Kim Boutin	CAN	42.391	Q
2	Arianna Valcepina	ITA	42.891	Q
3	Fan Kexin	CHN	1:03.594
4	Alyson Charles	CAN	1:07.206	ADV
DQ	Florence Brunelle	CAN	–

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Petra Jászapáti	HUN	43.476	Q
2	Yelena Seryogina	ROC	43.712	Q
3	Maame Biney	USA	46.099
4	Selma Poutsma	NED	1:07.285
DQ	Xandra Velzeboer	NED	–

Heat #3

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Arianna Fontana	ITA	42.635	Q
2	Hanne Desmet	BEL	42.991	Q
3	Zhang Yuting	CHN	54.211	ADV
4	Choi Min-Jeong	KOR	1:04.939
DQ	Sofya Prosvirnova	ROC	–

Heat #4

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Suzanne Schulting	NED	42.922	Q
2	Qu Chunyu	CHN	43.029	Q
3	Sumire Kikuchi	JPN	56.092
DQ	Kristen Santos	USA	–
DQ	Martina Valcepina	ITA	–

Semi-Finals

Date	7 February 2022 — 20:13
Format	Top 2 finishers in each heat advanced to final.

Heat #1

Time	20:13

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Arianna Fontana	ITA	42.387	Q
2	Kim Boutin	CAN	42.664	Q
3	Yelena Seryogina	ROC	42.685
4	Alyson Charles	CAN	42.829
5	Arianna Valcepina	ITA	44.044

Heat #2

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Suzanne Schulting	NED	42.475	Q
2	Zhang Yuting	CHN	43.196	Q
3	Petra Jászapáti	HUN	43.198
4	Hanne Desmet	BEL	55.304	ADV
DQ	Qu Chunyu	CHN	–

Final Round

Date	7 February 2022 — 20:41

Final B

Time	20:41

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Yelena Seryogina	ROC	42.972
2	Petra Jászapáti	HUN	43.004
3	Alyson Charles	CAN	43.273

Final A

Time	20:46

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	Arianna Fontana	ITA	42.488
2	Suzanne Schulting	NED	42.559
3	Kim Boutin	CAN	42.724
4	Zhang Yuting	CHN	42.803
5	Hanne Desmet	BEL	42.941