# Speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres

The women's 500 metres speed skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 18 February 2018 at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung.

## Summary

Pre-race favourites were Nao Kodaira, winner of every single pre-Olympic ISU World Cup 500m in the 2017/18 season, and Lee Sang-hwa, world record holder at this distance and two-time Olympic 500m gold medallist.
Skating in the fourth pair, Jorien Ter Mors posted a time of 37.53, which stood until Brittany Bowe improved it by 0.009 seconds in the eleventh pair. Starting in pair 16 versus Karolína Erbanová, Japan's Nao Kodaira raced to an Olympic and sea-level record of 36.94, clocking an unprecedented lap time of 26.68 - a pace for the longest time deemed "impossible" even at altitude (which Gangneung is not). In pair 15, South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa opened faster than Kodaira and was up two tenths in back straight intermediate timings. However, an imperfect final inner turn saw her lose this advantage and cross the line 0.39 seconds down in 37.33 to take second place - a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Erbanová's time. Vanessa Herzog, 500m gold medallist at the 2018 European Speed Skating Championships, was unable to challenge for a medal in the final pair, finishing fourth.

## Competition schedule

All times are (UTC+9).
| Date | Time | Event |
| 18 February | 20:56 | Women's 500m Final |

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic and track records were as follows.
| World record | Lee Sang-hwa (KOR) | 36.36 | Salt Lake City, United States | 16 November 2013 |
| Olympic record | Lee Sang-hwa (KOR) | 37.28 | Sochi, Russia | 11 February 2014 |
| Track record | Nao Kodaira (JPN) | 37.05 | | 7 February 2018 |
The following records were set during this competition.
| Date | Round | Athlete | Country | Time | Record |
| 18 February | Pair 14 | Nao Kodaira | Japan | 36.94 | OR, WB (sea level), TR |
OR = Olympic record, TR = track record, WB = world best

## Results

The races were held at 20:56.
| Rank | Pair | Lane | Name | Country | Time | Time behind | Notes |
| | 14 | I | Nao Kodaira | Japan | 36.94 | — | OR, TR |
| | 15 | O | Lee Sang-hwa | South Korea | 37.33 | +0.39 | |
| | 14 | O | Karolína Erbanová | Czech Republic | 37.34 | +0.40 | |
| 4 | 16 | I | Vanessa Herzog | Austria | 37.51 | +0.57 | |
| 5 | 11 | O | Brittany Bowe | United States | 37.530 | +0.59 | |
| 6 | 4 | I | Jorien ter Mors | Netherlands | 37.539 | +0.59 | |
| 7 | 16 | O | Angelina Golikova | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 37.62 | +0.68 | |
| 8 | 15 | I | Arisa Go | Japan | 37.67 | +0.73 | |
| 9 | 13 | I | Yu Jing | China | 37.81 | +0.87 | |
| 10 | 13 | O | Marsha Hudey | Canada | 37.88 | +0.94 | |
| 11 | 9 | O | Heather Bergsma | United States | 38.13 | +1.19 | |
| 12 | 10 | O | Kim Hyun-yung | South Korea | 38.251 | +1.31 | |
| 13 | 11 | I | Erina Kamiya | Japan | 38.255 | +1.31 | |
| 14 | 12 | O | Heather McLean | Canada | 38.29 | +1.35 | |
| 15 | 8 | I | Zhang Hong | China | 38.39 | +1.45 | |
| 16 | 10 | I | Judith Dannhauer | Germany | 38.534 | +1.59 | |
| 16 | 9 | I | Kim Min-sun | South Korea | 38.534 | +1.59 | |
| 18 | 12 | I | Hege Bøkko | Norway | 38.538 | +1.59 | |
| 19 | 1 | I | Anice Das | Netherlands | 38.75 | +1.81 | |
| 20 | 5 | O | Tian Ruining | China | 38.86 | +1.92 | |
| 21 | 8 | O | Yekaterina Aydova | Kazakhstan | 38.96 | +2.02 | |
| 22 | 6 | O | Huang Yu-ting | Chinese Taipei | 38.98 | +2.04 | |
| 23 | 3 | I | Lotte van Beek | Netherlands | 39.18 | +2.24 | |
| 24 | 2 | O | Erin Jackson | United States | 39.20 | +2.26 | |
| 25 | 4 | O | Kaja Ziomek | Poland | 39.26 | +2.32 | |
| 26 | 7 | I | Yvonne Daldossi | Italy | 39.28 | +2.34 | |
| 27 | 2 | I | Ida Njåtun | Norway | 39.33 | +2.39 | |
| 28 | 7 | O | Elina Risku | Finland | 39.36 | +2.42 | |
| 29 | 6 | I | Francesca Bettrone | Italy | 39.52 | +2.58 | |
| 30 | 5 | I | Kseniya Sadouskaya | Belarus | 39.64 | +2.70 | |
| 31 | 3 | O | Alexandra Ianculescu | Romania | 40.70 | +3.76 | |