# Short-track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

The men's 500 metres in short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics took place on 23 February at the Salt Lake Ice Center.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Jeffrey Scholten (CAN) | 41.514 | Calgary, Canada | 13 October 2001 |
| Olympic record | Takafumi Nishitani (JPN) | 42.756 | Nagano, Japan | 21 February 1998 |
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Round | Team | Time | OR |
| 23 February | Heat 7 | Jonathan Guilmette (CAN) | 42.326 | OR |
| 23 February | Quarterfinal 3 | Kim Dong-sung (KOR) | 41.806 | OR |
| 23 February | A Final | Marc Gagnon (CAN) | 41.802 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

The first round was held on 23 February. There were eight heats of four skaters each, with the top two finishers moving on to the quarterfinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Li Jiajun | China | 43.690 | Q |
| 2 | Arian Nachbar | Germany | 44.057 | Q |
| 3 | Matúš Užák | Slovakia | 44.499 | |
| 4 | Asen Pandov | Bulgaria | 77.124 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Simon Van Vossel | Belgium | 43.119 | Q |
| 2 | Apolo Anton Ohno | United States | 43.214 | Q |
| 3 | Cees Juffermans | Netherlands | 43.253 | |
| 4 | Andrew McNee | Australia | 44.289 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Takafumi Nishitani | Japan | 43.211 | Q |
| 2 | Marc Gagnon | Canada | 43.395 | Q |
| 3 | Krisztián Szabó | Hungary | 44.143 | |
| 4 | Volodymyr Hryhor'iev | Ukraine | 70.431 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kim Dong-sung | South Korea | 42.834 | Q |
| 2 | Rusty Smith | United States | 42.849 | Q |
| 3 | Dave Allardice | Great Britain | 42.980 | |
| 4 | Ganbatyn Jargalanchuluun | Mongolia | 52.225 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fabio Carta | Italy | 43.787 | Q |
| 2 | Bruno Loscos | France | 43.864 | Q |
| 3 | Leon Flack | Great Britain | 43.965 | |
| 4 | Mark Jackson | New Zealand | 44.064 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Feng Kai | China | 43.084 | Q |
| 2 | Wim De Deyne | Belgium | 43.205 | Q |
| 3 | Martin Johansson | Sweden | 43.435 | |
| 4 | Krystian Zdrojkowski | Poland | 44.117 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jonathan Guilmette | Canada | 42.326 | Q OR |
| 2 | Satoru Terao | Japan | 42.334 | Q |
| 3 | Balázs Knoch | Hungary | 42.533 | |
| 4 | Miroslav Boyadzhiev | Bulgaria | 43.462 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nicola Franceschina | Italy | 42.876 | Q |
| 2 | Steven Bradbury | Australia | 43.226 | Q |
| 3 | Ludovic Mathieu | France | 43.790 | ADV |
| – | Lee Seung-jae | South Korea | DQ | |

### Quarterfinals

The top two finishers in each of the four quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jonathan Guilmette | Canada | 42.809 | Q |
| 2 | Apolo Anton Ohno | United States | 42.895 | Q |
| 3 | Fabio Carta | Italy | 43.113 | |
| 4 | Arian Nachbar | Germany | 43.626 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rusty Smith | United States | 42.359 | Q |
| 2 | Marc Gagnon | Canada | 42.384 | Q |
| 3 | Takafumi Nishitani | Japan | 42.535 | |
| – | Nicola Franceschina | Italy | DQ | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kim Dong-sung | South Korea | 41.806 | Q OR |
| 2 | Wim De Deyne | Belgium | 41.832 | Q |
| 3 | Li Jiajun | China | 64.514 | |
| 4 | Bruno Loscos | France | 99.879 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Satoru Terao | Japan | 42.692 | Q |
| 2 | Feng Kai | China | 42.820 | Q |
| 3 | Steven Bradbury | Australia | 44.982 | |
| 4 | Ludovic Mathieu | France | 73.328 | |
| – | Simon Van Vossel | Belgium | DQ | |

### Semifinals

The top two finishers in each of the two semifinals qualified for the A final, while the third and fourth place skaters advanced to the B Final. In the second semifinal, American Apolo Anton Ohno caused Japan's Satoru Terao to fall, resulting in Ohno's disqualification, while Terao was advanced to the A final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rusty Smith | United States | 41.916 | QA |
| 2 | Marc Gagnon | Canada | 41.981 | QA |
| 3 | Kim Dong-sung | South Korea | 41.990 | QB |
| 4 | Wim De Deyne | Belgium | 42.823 | QB |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jonathan Guilmette | Canada | 42.201 | QA |
| 2 | Feng Kai | China | 42.266 | QA |
| 3 | Satoru Terao | Japan | 65.790 | ADV |
| – | Apolo Anton Ohno | United States | DQ | |

### Finals

The five qualifying skaters competed in Final A, while two other raced for 6th place in Final B.

#### Final A

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| | Marc Gagnon | Canada | 41.802 |
| | Jonathan Guilmette | Canada | 41.994 |
| | Rusty Smith | United States | 42.027 |
| 4 | Feng Kai | China | 42.112 |
| 5 | Satoru Terao | Japan | 42.219 |

#### Final B

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 6 | Kim Dong-sung | South Korea | 42.076 | |
| 7 | Wim De Deyne | Belgium | 42.961 | |