1,000 metres, Women

Since her Olympic win in 2018, the 1,000 m had been the domain of Suzanne Schulting. She had earned the 2019 and 2021 world title, had won the 1,000 m World Cup in 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2021/22, and the European title in 2020 and 2021. She was not unbeatable, however, as earlier in the season, she had lost two World Cups, first to Kristen Santos and later to Lee Yu-Bin and Courtney Sarault. Moreover, the 500 m had shown that Kim Boutin and especially Arianna Fontana were also in shape.

The first of these contenders literally fell out of competition in the heats, as Boutin fell in the final curve while leading her heat. In the quarter-finals, Schulting confirmed her role as a favorite by lowering the world record to 1:26.514, while Sarault dropped out at this stage. The semi-finals were also fairly uneventful, although Lee did not proceed after just losing out to Hanne Desmet.

Per her usual tactics, Schulting grabbed the early lead, leaving the others to try and pass her. Behind her, Fontana seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to pass, as she had successfully done in the final of the 500 m. At the bell, Santos, Fontana and Choi Min-Jeong all made their move. This ended badly for the Italian as she blocked Santos and both crashed out, with Fontana later being penalized. That gave Choi room to make an attempt at Schulting, but the Dutch skater clawed her way to the finish to retain her 2018 title, the first skater since Jeon I-Gyeong to do this. Behind them it was Desmet who captured the bronze. A training partner of Schulting, they celebrated their medals together. For Belgium, it was their first Olympic medal in short-track speed skating.