Short track speed skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres

The women's 500 metres in short track speed skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics took place on 19 February at the White Ring.[1] It featured an uncommon occurrence, as two finalists failed to finish (one was disqualified), meaning that the winner of the B Final, Chun Lee-kyung, won a bronze medal. A consequence of this is that Chun actually recorded a faster time in the final than the two women who won medals ahead of her.[2]

Women's 500 metres at the XVIII Olympic Winter Games
Pictogram for short track
Venue	White Ring
Dates	19 February
Competitors	32 from 13 nations
Winning time	46.568
Medalists
Annie Perreault  Canada Yang Yang (S)  China Chun Lee-Kyung  South Korea

Results

Heats

The first round was held on 19 February. There were eight heats, with the top two finishers moving on to the quarterfinals.[1]

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Chikage Tanaka	Japan	46.768	Q
2	Jong Ok-myong	North Korea	46.835	Q
3	Yvonne Kunze	Germany	46.887
4	Erin Porter	United States	64.113

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Chun Lee-kyung	South Korea	48.024	Q
2	Erin Gleason	United States	48.767	Q
3	Ellen Wiegers	Netherlands	56.250
4	Tania Vicent	Canada	70.212

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Wang Chunlu	China	45.655	Q OR
2	Annie Perreault	Canada	45.866	Q
3	Barbara Baldissera	Italy	46.113
–	Han Ryon-hui	North Korea	DNF

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Ikue Teshigawara	Japan	47.354	Q
2	Kim Yun-mi	South Korea	48.184	Q
3	Melanie de Lange	Netherlands	48.598
4	Susanne Busch	Germany	90.607

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Yang Yang (A)	China	46.815	Q
2	Yelena Tikhonova	Russia	46.980	Q
3	Hwang Ok-sil	North Korea	46.987
4	Anke Jannie Landman	Netherlands	47.090

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Evgeniya Radanova	Bulgaria	45.977	Q
2	Choi Min-kyung	South Korea	46.126	Q
3	Nataliya Sverchikova	Ukraine	46.976
4	Marinella Canclini	Italy	74.224

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Yang Yang (S)	China	46.136	Q
2	Mara Urbani	Italy	46.287	Q
3	Amy Peterson	United States	46.764
4	Janet Daly	Australia	49.158

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Isabelle Charest	Canada	46.085	Q
2	Marina Pylayeva	Russia	46.359	Q
3	Daniela Vlaeva	Bulgaria	46.681
4	Ayako Tsubaki	Japan	46.950

Quarterfinals

The top two finishers in each of the four quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals.[1] In quarterfinal 2, Japan's Chikage Tanaka was advanced, and North Korea's Jong Ok-myong disqualified. In quarterfinal 3, Japan's Ikue Teshigawara was advanced and Bulgaria's Evgeniya Radanova disqualified.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Choi Min-kyung	South Korea	46.033	Q
2	Isabelle Charest	Canada	46.194	Q
3	Yelena Tikhonova	Russia	46.206
–	Yang Yang (A)	China	DQ

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Annie Perreault	Canada	46.421	Q
2	Yang Yang (S)	China	46.578	Q
3	Chikage Tanaka	Japan	56.798	ADV
–	Jong Ok-myong	North Korea	DQ

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mara Urbani	Italy	46.215	Q
2	Kim Yun-mi	South Korea	46.640	Q
3	Ikue Teshigawara	Japan	52.693	ADV
–	Evgeniya Radanova	Bulgaria	DQ

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Wang Chunlu	China	46.091	Q
2	Chun Lee-kyung	South Korea	46.163	Q
3	Marina Pylayeva	Russia	46.220
4	Erin Gleason	United States	46.425

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.[1]

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Isabelle Charest	Canada	44.991	QA OR
2	Yang Yang (S)	China	45.101	QA
3	Choi Min-kyung	South Korea	46.000	QB
4	Mara Urbani	Italy	46.473	QB
5	Chikage Tanaka	Japan	46.497

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Annie Perreault	Canada	45.612	QA
2	Wang Chunlu	China	45.655	QA
3	Ikue Teshigawara	Japan	45.736	QB
4	Chun Lee-kyung	South Korea	46.168	QB
5	Kim Yun-mi	South Korea	47.337

Finals

The four qualifying skaters competed in Final A, while four others raced for 5th place in Final B. The disqualification of Isabelle Charest and Wang Chunlu's failure to finish resulted in [1]

Final A

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Annie Perreault	Canada	46.568
	Yang Yang (S)	China	46.627
–	Isabelle Charest	Canada	DQ
–	Wang Chunlu	China	DNF

Final B

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Chun Lee-kyung	South Korea	46.335
4	Choi Min-kyung	South Korea	46.504
5	Mara Urbani	Italy	46.687
6	Ikue Teshigawara	Japan	46.889

References

1. "Nagano 1998 Official Report - Volume 3" (PDF). Nagano Olympics Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
2. "Short Track Speed Skating at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games: Women's 500 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2019.