The men's 500 metres competition in short-track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics will be held on 16 February (heats) and 18 February (finals), 2026 at the Forum di Milano in Milan. Steven Dubois of Canada won the event, with brothers Melle van 't Wout and Jens van 't Wout, both of the Netherlands, winning the silver and bronze medal, respectively.
Background The defending champion Shaoang Liu qualified, though he switched from representing Hungary to China. The 2022 bronze medalist, Steven Dubois, qualified as well. The silver medalist, Konstantin Ivliev, did not compete internationally since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before the Olympics, William Dandjinou was leading the 2025–26 ISU Short Track World Tour 500 m standings as well as the overall standings. Steven Dubois was the 500 m 2025 World champion.
Qualification
Countries were assigned quotas based on their performance during the 2025–26 ISU Short Track World Tour. A total of 32 athletes from 18 nations qualified for the event.
Records Prior to this competition, the world and Olympic records were as follows.
Results
Heats 16 February 2026, 11:18 AM RankHeatNameCountryTimeNotes 1 1 William Dandjinou 40.593 Q 2 1 Teun Boer 52.425 Q 3 1 Kazuki Yoshinaga 1:09.908 ADV 1 Stijn Desmet PEN 1 2 Abzal Azhgaliyev 40.934 Q 2 2 Pietro Sighel 40.942 Q 3 2 Reinis Bērziņš 41.758 2 Furkan Akar PEN 1 3 Steven Dubois 40.284 Q 2 3 Won-jun Moon 40.718 Q 3 3 Denis Nikisha 40.818 q 4 3 Shōgo Miyata 40.886 1 4 Shaoang Liu 41.100 Q 2 4 Félix Pigeon 41.179 Q 3 4 Dae-heon Hwang 41.191 4 4 Nico Andermann 41.450 1 5 Maxime Laoun 40.943 Q 2 5 Lorenzo Previtali 40.993 Q 3 5 Denis Örs 44.651 ADV 5 Sun Long PEN 1 6 Melle van 't Wout 40.809 Q 2 6 Thomas Nadalini 40.921 Q 3 6 Michał Niewiński 41.174 4 6 Brendan Corey 41.845 1 7 Jens van 't Wout 40.567 Q 2 7 Oleh Handei 49.020 Q 3 7 Daniil Eibog 1:01.577 ADV 7 Brandon Kim PEN 1 8 Andrew Heo 41.136 Q 2 8 Lin Xiaojun 41.242 Q 3 8 Jong-un Rim 41.829 4 8 Niall Treacy 56.712
Quarterfinals 18 February 2026, 20:15 PM RankHeatNameCountryTimeNotes 1 1 Steven Dubois 40.377 Q 2 1 Teun Boer 40.412 Q 3 1 Denis Nikisha 40.562 q 4 1 Andrew Heo 40.724 1 Won-jun Moon PEN 1 2 Jens van 't Wout 40.408 Q 2 2 Shaoang Liu 40.461 Q 3 2 Thomas Nadalini 40.619 4 2 Oleh Handei 41.164 5 2 Denis Örs 41.532 1 3 William Dandjinou 40.330 Q 2 3 Pietro Sighel 40.392 Q 3 3 Maxime Laoun 40.454 q 4 3 Lin Xiaojun 40.638 5 3 Daniil Eybog 1:07.497 1 4 Melle van 't Wout 40.554 Q 2 4 Félix Pigeon 40.770 Q 3 4 Lorenzo Previtali 40.847 4 4 Kazuki Yoshinaga 40.895 5 4 Abzal Azhgaliyev 41.549
Semifinals 18 February 2026, 20:42 PM RankHeatNameCountryTimeNotes11William Dandjinou40.752QA21Melle van 't Wout40.916QA 31Félix Pigeon41.026QB41Maxime Laoun58.859QB51Pietro Sighel1:07.239QB 12Jens van 't Wout40.064QA 22Steven Dubois40.163QA 32Teun Boer40.295qA 42Denis Nikisha40.871QB 52Liu Shaoang1:10.008QB
Finals
Final B 18 February 2026, 21:24 PM RankNameCountryTimeNotes1Liu Shaoang41.5252Denis Nikisha41.9483Félix Pigeon45.3454Maxime Laoun1:22.8965Pietro SighelDNS
Final A 18 February 2026, 21:29 PM RankNameCountryTimeNotesSteven Dubois 40.835Melle van 't Wout 40.912Jens van 't Wout 41.9084Teun Boer 1:05.3605William Dandjinou PEN
Notes
References