Short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres


The women's 500 metres in short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics took place on 16 February at the Salt Lake Ice Center.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
DateRoundTeamTimeORWR
16 FebruaryHeat 344.723OR
16 FebruarySemifinal 144.118OR

Results

Heats

The first round was held on 16 February. There were eight heats, with the top two finishers moving on to the quarterfinals.
;Heat 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Yang Yang 45.042Q
2Marina Georgieva-Nikolova45.916Q
3Katalin Kristo46.956

;Heat 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Joo Min-jin45.547Q
2Yvonne Kunze45.717Q
3Cordia Tsoi52.496

;Heat 3
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Wang Chunlu44.723Q
2Isabelle Charest44.964Q
3Nataliya Dmitriyeva46.574
4Kateřina Novotná47.122

;Heat 4
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Marta Capurso46.313Q
2Olga Danilov46.422Q
3Jo Williams46.631
4Marianna Nagy46.980

;Heat 5
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Alanna Kraus45.101Q
2Evgeniya Radanova45.195Q
3Susanne Rudolph45.288

;Heat 6
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Chikage Tanaka45.193Q
2Amy Peterson45.448Q
3Nina Yevteyeva46.180
4Szandra Lajtos48.488

;Heat 7
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Sarah Lindsay45.461Q
2Mara Zini45.556Q
3Yuliya Pavlovich-Yelsakova47.273
4Christy Ren55.423

;Heat 8
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Choi Eun-kyung45.395Q
2Caroline Hallisey45.535Q
3Stéphanie Bouvier45.723
4Yuka Kamino45.933

Quarterfinals

The top two finishers in each of the four quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals. Canada's Isabelle Charest was advanced to the semifinals, with Japan's Chikage Tanaka disqualified.
;Quarterfinal 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Wang Chunlu44.739Q
2Caroline Hallisey44.826Q
3Marta Capurso45.137
4Olga Danilov46.695

;Quarterfinal 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Yang Yang 44.810Q
2Joo Min-jin44.992Q
3Amy Peterson46.120
4Marina Georgieva-Nikolova46.422

;Quarterfinal 3
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Evgeniya Radanova44.780Q
2Alanna Kraus44.863Q
3Sarah Lindsay44.912
4Yvonne Kunze46.465

;Quarterfinal 4
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Choi Eun-kyung44.846Q
2Mara Zini44.876Q
3Isabelle Charest45.011ADV
–Chikage TanakaDSQ

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 first semifinal, a dead heat for second place, between Canada's Isabelle Charest and Caroline Hallisey of the United States, meant that both advanced to the final.
;Semifinal 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Yang Yang 44.118QA
2Isabelle Charest44.307QA
2Caroline Hallisey44.307QA
4Mara Zini44.531QB
5Choi Eun-kyung44.647QB

;Semifinal 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Evgeniya Radanova44.686QA
2Wang Chunlu44.734QA
3Alanna Kraus44.776QB
4Joo Min-jin68.184QB

Finals

The five qualifying skaters competed in Final A, while four other raced for 6th place in Final B.
;Final A
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
Yang Yang 44.187
Evgeniya Radanova44.252
Wang Chunlu44.272
4Isabelle Charest44.662
5Caroline Hallisey44.679

;Final B
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
6Alanna Kraus44.930
7Choi Eun-kyung45.383
8Mara Zini45.494
9Joo Min-jin46.893