# 2012–13 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – Women's 500 metres

The 500 meters distance for women in the 2012–13 ISU Speed Skating World Cup was contested over 12 races on six occasions, out of a total of nine World Cup occasions for the season, with the first occasion taking place in Heerenveen, Netherlands, on 16–18 November 2012, and the final occasion also taking place in Heerenveen on 8–10 March 2013.
A standout moment was South Korean skater Lee Sang-hwa breaking her own world record twice during the season. On January 19, 2013, at the World Cup event in Calgary, she set a new world record with a time of 36.99 seconds. The following day, January 20, she surpassed this achievement by recording a time of 36.80 seconds, further lowering the world record.
Lee Sang-hwa went on to win the cup, while Jenny Wolf of Germany came second, and Wang Beixing of China came third. The defending champion, Yu Jing of China, ended up in 10th place.

## Top three

| Medal | Athlete | Points | Previous season |
| Gold | Lee Sang-hwa | 1055 | 2nd |
| Silver | Jenny Wolf | 851 | 3rd |
| Bronze | Wang Beixing | 756 | 7th |

## Race medallists

| Occasion # | Location | Date | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| 1 | Heerenveen, Netherlands | 16 November | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.85 | Heather Richardson United States | 37.95 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 38.26 |
| 1 | Heerenveen, Netherlands | 17 November | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.92 | Heather Richardson United States | 38.13 | Jenny Wolf Germany | 38.14 |
| 4 | Nagano, Japan | 8 December | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.63 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 37.96 | Heather Richardson United States | 38.01 |
| 4 | Nagano, Japan | 9 December | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.60 | Jenny Wolf Germany | 37.91 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 38.09 |
| 5 | Harbin, China | 15 December | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.94 | Jenny Wolf Germany | 37.95 | Yu Jing China | 38.53 |
| 5 | Harbin, China | 16 December | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.65 | Yu Jing China | 38.34 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 38.38 |
| 6 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | 19 January | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 36.99 | Heather Richardson United States | 37.12 | Yu Jing China | 37.28 |
| 6 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | 20 January | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 36.80 WR | Heather Richardson United States | 37.42 | Margot Boer Netherlands | 37.54 |
| 8 | Erfurt, Germany | 1 March | Wang Beixing China | 38.07 | Thijsje Oenema Netherlands | 38.34 | Jenny Wolf Germany | 38.39 |
| 8 | Erfurt, Germany | 2 March | Wang Beixing China | 38.15 | Olga Fatkulina Russia | 38.215 | Thijsje Oenema Netherlands | 38.217 |
| 9 | Heerenveen, Netherlands | 8 March | Jenny Wolf Germany | 37.77 | Wang Beixing China | 37.81 | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.82 |
| 9 | Heerenveen, Netherlands | 10 March | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.77 | Wang Beixing China | 37.78 | Thijsje Oenema Netherlands | 38.10 |

## Standings

Standings as of 10 March 2013 (end of the season).
| # | Name | HVN1 | HVN2 | NAG1 | NAG2 | HAR1 | HAR2 | CAL1 | CAL2 | ERF1 | ERF2 | HVN3 | HVN4 | Total |
| 1 | Lee Sang-hwa | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | – | – | 105 | 150 | 1055 |
| 2 | Jenny Wolf | 50 | 70 | 60 | 80 | 80 | 60 | 36 | 45 | 70 | 60 | 150 | 90 | 851 |
| 3 | Wang Beixing | 18 | 40 | 28 | 60 | 45 | 45 | 40 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 120 | 120 | 756 |
| 4 | Olga Fatkulina | 40 | 32 | 40 | 36 | 32 | 50 | 60 | 24 | 60 | 80 | 40 | 75 | 569 |
| 5 | Heather Richardson | 80 | 80 | 70 | 45 | – | – | 80 | 80 | 50 | 45 | 14 | 24 | 568 |
| 6 | Thijsje Oenema | 8 | 21 | 50 | 28 | 8 | 24 | 45 | 32 | 80 | 70 | 75 | 105 | 546 |
| 7 | Nao Kodaira | 70 | 36 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 70 | 5 | – | – | – | 12 | 12 | 415 |
| 8 | Margot Boer | 32 | 45 | 14 | 50 | 50 | 40 | 32 | 70 | 45 | 32 | – | – | 410 |
| 9 | Laurine van Riessen | 10 | 24 | 16 | 10 | 40 | 32 | 50 | 50 | 18 | 36 | 75 | 45 | 406 |
| 10 | Yu Jing | 45 | 50 | – | – | 70 | 80 | 70 | 60 | – | – | – | – | 375 |
| 11 | Zhang Hong | 60 | 60 | – | – | 24 | 36 | – | – | 24 | 32 | 90 | 36 | 362 |
| 12 | Miyako Sumiyoshi | 24 | 12 | 45 | 21 | 18 | 18 | 24 | 36 | 36 | 50 | 21 | 40 | 345 |
| 13 | Karolína Erbanová | 28 | 28 | 32 | 40 | 28 | 21 | 16 | 28 | 21 | 6 | 16 | 10 | 274 |
| 14 | Maki Tsuji | 21 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 36 | 28 | 21 | 16 | 32 | 18 | 32 | 16 | 274 |
| 15 | Brittany Bowe | 15 | 25 | 24 | 18 | – | – | 18 | 18 | 40 | 40 | 36 | 32 | 266 |
| 16 | Christine Nesbitt | 36 | 14 | 36 | 32 | – | – | 28 | – | – | – | 28 | – | 174 |
| 17 | Judith Hesse | 19 | 8 | – | – | – | – | 25 | 21 | 28 | 21 | 24 | 14 | 160 |
| 18 | Erina Kamiya | 6 | 2 | 19 | 25 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 21 | 153 |
| 19 | Yekaterina Aydova | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | – | – | 0 | 6 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 28 | 150 |
| 20 | Anastasia Bucsis | 8 | 15 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 128 |
| 21 | Anice Das | 8 | 25 | 8 | 4 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 19 | 25 | 10 | 18 | 119 |
| 22 | Denise Roth | 0 | 4 | 11 | 19 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 111 |
| 23 | Yekaterina Malysheva | 0 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | – | – | – | 91 |
| 24 | Marrit Leenstra | 14 | 16 | 21 | 16 | – | – | 12 | – | 10 | – | – | – | 89 |
| 25 | Yuliya Liteykina | 4 | 0 | 14 | 25 | 5 | 10 | – | 14 | – | 12 | – | – | 84 |
| 26 | Danielle Wotherspoon | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 19 | 11 | 19 | – | – | 84 |
| 27 | Jennifer Plate | 6 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 0 | – | – | 73 |
| 28 | Lauren Cholewinski | 12 | 6 | 6 | 5 | – | – | 0 | 25 | 5 | 8 | – | – | 67 |
| 29 | Yukana Nishina | 0 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 25 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 62 |
| 30 | Jin Peiyu | 16 | 18 | – | – | 14 | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 60 |
| 31 | Qi Shuai | – | – | 0 | 0 | 25 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | – | – | 57 |
| 32 | Yvonne Daldossi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | – | – | 38 |
| 32 | Kaylin Irvine | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 11 | 1 | 15 | – | – | 38 |
| 34 | Mayon Kuipers | – | – | – | – | 15 | 19 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 34 |
| 34 | Yekaterina Lobysheva | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 | – | 15 | – | – | – | 34 |
| 36 | Sugar Todd | 1 | 1 | 15 | 11 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 31 |
| 37 | Kim Hyun-yung | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 16 |
| 38 | Shannon Rempel | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | – | – | 0 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 16 |
| 39 | Park Seung-ju | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12 |
| 40 | Li Dan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 |
| 41 | Janine Smit | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | 6 | – | – | 10 |
| 42 | Svetlana Radkevich | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 8 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 8 |
| 43 | Paola Simionato | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | – | – | 8 |
| 44 | Kali Christ | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | 6 | – | – | – | 6 |
| 44 | Gabriele Hirschbichler | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 6 | – | – | – | 0 | – | – | – | 6 |
| 46 | Vanessa Bittner | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | 4 | – | – | 4 |
| 47 | Elina Risku | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 |