Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres

The defending champion from 2014, Li Jianrou, had retired, but the 2014 silver medalist Arianna Fontana competed and eventually won the event. Elise Christie and Choi Min-jeong, who set two Olympic records each in heats and quarterfinals, were considered heavy favorites. They both qualified to the final, but Christie crashed out and finished fourth, and Choi was disqualified for interference after initially finishing second.[3] Fontana became the Olympic champion, with Yara van Kerkhof, who was advanced to the final, winning the silver, and Kim Boutin bronze.[4] Fontana's gold medal was the first gold medal in women's short track speed skating won by a European athlete since 1988 (when Monique Velzeboer and the Italian relay team took gold).

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

World record	Elise Christie (GBR)	42.335	Salt Lake City, United States	13 November 2016
Olympic record	Wang Meng (CHN)	42.985	Vancouver, Canada	17 February 2010

Three Olympic records were set during the competition.

Date	Round	Athlete	Country	Time	Record	Ref
10 February	Heat 8	Choi Min-jeong	South Korea	42.870	OR	[5]
13 February	Quarterfinal 2	Elise Christie	Great Britain	42.703	OR	[6]
	Semifinal 1	Choi Min-jeong	South Korea	42.422	OR	[7]