The women's 500 metres competition in short-track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics was held on 10 February (heats) and 12 February (finals), 2026 at the Forum di Milano in Milan. Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands won the event, setting a world record in a semi-final. The two-time defending champion, Arianna Fontana of Italy, won silver. Courtney Sarault of Canada won bronze. For Velzeboer and Sarault these were the first individual Olympic medals.

Background The 2018 and 2022 champion, Arianna Fontana, qualified for the event, as did the bronze medalist, Kim Boutin. The silver medalist, Suzanne Schulting, qualified in both short track and speed skating, but in short track she was only selected for 1500 m. Before the Olympics, Xandra Velzeboer was leading the 2025–26 ISU Short Track World Tour 500 m standings, and Courtney Sarault led the overall standings. Xandra Velzeboer was also 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 16 nations qualified for the event.

Records Prior to this competition, the world and Olympic records were as follows.

A new world record was set during the competition. This was the only world record set at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Date Round Athlete Country Time Record Ref12 February Semifinal 1 Xandra Velzeboer 41.399 WR, OR

Results Heats 10 February 2026, 10:33 Rank Heat Name Country Time Notes 1 1 Xandra Velzeboer 42.417 Q 2 1 Chiara Betti 43.163 Q 3 1 Valentina Aščić 44.802 4 1 Olga Tikhonova 46.352 1 2 Courtney Sarault 42.464 Q 2 2 Kim Gil-li 43.301 Q 3 2 Mirei Nakashima 43.655 4 2 Gabriela Topolska 43.813 1 3 Wang Xinran 43.246 Q 2 3 Rika Kanai 52.160 Q 3 3 Arianna Sighel 53.960 4 3 Corinne Stoddard 1 4 Michelle Velzeboer 42.598 Q 2 4 Arianna Fontana 42.668 Q 3 4 Bérénice Comby 42.750 q 4 4 Yana Khan 1 5 Kristen Santos-Griswold 42.767 Q 2 5 Zhang Chutong 43.100 Q 3 5 Aurélie Lévêque 44.488 4 5 Lea Popovičová 46.101 1 6 Hanne Desmet 43.182 Q 2 6 Choi Min-jeong 43.204 Q 3 6 Julie Letai 43.275 q 4 6 Yelyzaveta Sydorko 43.337 1 7 Kim Boutin 42.692 Q 2 7 Natalia Maliszewska 43.313 Q 3 7 Lee So-yeon 43.406 q 4 7 Alena Krylova 1 8 Selma Poutsma 42.629 Q 2 8 Florence Brunelle 42.838 Q 3 8 Fan Kexin 42.992 q 4 8 Diána Laura Végi 44.164

Quarterfinals 12 February 2026, 20:15 Rank Heat Name Country Time Notes 1 1 Xandra Velzeboer 41.583 Q, OR 2 1 Arianna Fontana 41.679 Q 3 1 Rika Kanai 43.178 4 1 Bérénice Comby 56.076 1 Wang Xinran PEN 1 2 Courtney Sarault 41.974 Q 2 2 Florence Brunelle 42.285 Q 3 2 Fan Kexin 42.737 q 4 2 Hanne Desmet 43.139 5 2 Natalia Maliszewska 58.994 1 3 Kristen Santos-Griswold 42.174 Q 2 3 Michelle Velzeboer 42.417 Q 3 3 Kim Gil-li 43.373 4 3 Julie Letai 3 Zhang Chutong PEN 1 4 Choi Min-jeong 41.955 Q 2 4 Kim Boutin 42.196 Q 3 4 Selma Poutsma 42.234 q 4 4 Chiara Betti 42.279 5 4 Lee So-yeon 43.330

Semifinals 12 February 2026, 21:03 Rank Heat Name Country Time Notes 1 1 Xandra Velzeboer 41.399 QA, WR 2 1 Arianna Fontana 41.521 QA 3 1 Selma Poutsma 41.760 qA 4 1 Kristen Santos-Griswold 45.364 QB 5 1 Michelle Velzeboer QB 1 2 Courtney Sarault 42.463 QA 2 2 Kim Boutin 42.672 QA 3 2 Fan Kexin 42.833 QB 4 2 Florence Brunelle 42.838 QB 5 2 Choi Min-jeong 43.060 QB

Finals Final B 12 February 2026, 21:32 Rank Name Country Time Notes 6 Florence Brunelle 43.397 7 Choi Min-jeong 43.473 8 Michelle Velzeboer 9 Kristen Santos-Griswold 10 Fan Kexin

Final A 12 February 2026, 21:35 Rank Name Country Time Notes Xandra Velzeboer 41.609 Arianna Fontana 42.294 Courtney Sarault 42.427 4 Selma Poutsma 42.491 5 Kim Boutin 44.347

References