Short Track 2018/Women's 1000 metre

Women's 1000 metre
General information
Sport	Short Track 2018
Date	20-22 February 2018
Competitors	32 athletes
Venue	Gangneung Ice Arena
Previous medalists
Gold	Park Seung-hi
Silver	Fan Kexin
Bronze	Shim Suk-hee
Conditions
Length	1000 metres
Medalists
	Suzanne Schulting
	Kim Boutin
	Arianna Fontana

The women's 1000 metre of Short Track 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 20-22 February 2018 in the Gangneung Ice Arena. With 32 athletes competing, the event was won by Suzanne Schulting from Netherlands, with Kim Boutin from Canada taking the silver medal and Arianna Fontana from Italy taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of four rounds, each with races of four or five skaters. In each round, the top two with the fastest time advance to the next round, with confirmation of a jury. The fastest competitor in the final is the winner of the event.

Preview

Thirty-two athletes qualified for the event, and the favorites came from South Korea and China, as the only two countries to have won an Olympic gold medal in this event. However, the Chinese delegation has not performed well in the season before the Olympic Games, with Han Yutong and Li Jinyu being outside of the top 15 on the world rankings. On the other hand, Choi Min-jeong had won half the races in the World Cup circuit, and compatriot Shim Suk-hee was also ranked third in the world. Other medal contenders included Kim Boutin, who won one race in the World Cup, and Suzanne Schulting, who won a bronze medal at the world championships. Outsiders included Arianna Fontana and Yara van Kerkhof, who medaled at the 500 metres, and Elise Christie.

The youngest competitor was Li Jinyu, as the only skater born after 1 January 2000. Three skaters were roughly three years older, with Petra Jaszapati, Choi Min-jeong, and Anna Seidel. The oldest competitor was Jessica Kooreman, who would be making her second appearance at the Olympic Games. Second-oldest Veronique Pierron and third-oldest Andrea Keszler would make their third Olympic appearances, despite being six years older than Kooreman. Sixteen out of thirty-two athletes had competed at the Olympic Games before, of which six have had competed at least twice before. Arianna Fontana was the veteran of the group, this being her fourth Olympic appearance. Fan Kexin and Shim Suk-hee would be trying to defend or best their Olympic performances of four years prior.

Current Records

Record	Date	Nat.	Name	Time
WR	21 October 2012		Shim Suk-hee	1:26.661
OR	18 February 2014		Valerie Maltais	1:28.771

Summary

Heats

In the first heat, the attention of the crowd was set on world number three and the world record holder Shim Suk-hee, who would at least need to finish in the top 2. In a quite strategic race, with all athletes trying to stay in the front to stay out of trouble, Shim was the first to cross the line. She was followed by Han Yutong and Veronique Pierron, but the Chinese received a penalty for obstructing Bianca Walter, who would also advance on this decision.

Heat 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Shim Suk-hee	1:34.940	Q
2		Veronique Pierron	1:35.299	Q
3		Bianca Walter	1:36.128	ADV
4		Han Yutong		PEN

The second heat had another Korean favorite with Choi Min-jeong, who had won a gold medal in the longer event only a few days prior. Despite a false start in the race, the unranked Qu Chunyu tried to stay with the home favorite, and the two finished as the fastest two. Deanna Lockett received a penalty in a final attempt to catch the Chinese, but the victim Anastassiya Krestova did not advance to the next round.

Heat 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Choi Min-jeong	1:31.190	Q
2		Qu Chunyu	1:31.279	Q
3		Anastassiya Krestova	1:31.557
4		Deanna Lockett		PEN

The third of eight heats featured one of the outsiders and world number four Suzanne Schulting, and she immediately took the lead of the race. Despite the fierce battles behind her, the order was retained throughout the last few laps, with Schulting and Ekaterina Efremenkova advancing to the next round, the latter in a new personal record. Iong A Kim and Petra Jaszapati also skated to personal records in a fast-paced race.

Heat 3 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Suzanne Schulting	1:29.519	Q
2		Ekaterina Efremenkova	1:29.598	Q, PR
3		Iong A Kim	1:29.703	PR
4		Petra Jaszapati	1:29.838	PR

The next heat had two of the potential outsiders, with Olympic short track veterans Arianna Fontana and Valerie Maltais, the latter being the Olympic record holder. Maltais had the lead until a few laps before the finish when Fontana joined her. Kathryn Thompson and Jessica Kooreman took themselves out of contention by making small mistakes, leaving the two favorites as the two advancing.

Heat 4 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Arianna Fontana	1:30.676	Q
2		Valerie Maltais	1:30.773	Q
3		Jessica Kooreman	1:31.657
4		Kathryn Thomson	1:32.150

The big name of the fifth heat was probably the reigning world champion Elise Christie, although she was still carrying an injury from an earlier event, and she was challenged by Lara van Ruijven. Immediately at the start, Christie tripped before the first turn, having to restart the race. After the restart, Andrea Keszler and Van Ruijven took the lead, but Christie came back strong, trying to manoeuvre herself to the top two. Van Ruijven won the race in front of Christie, but the Brit received a yellow card for two penalties. Magdalena Warakomska, who finished third, advanced to the quarterfinals, just like Andrea Keszler, after a jury decision.

Heat 5 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Lara van Ruijven	1:30.896	Q
2		Magdalena Warakomska	1:31.259	Q
3		Andrea Keszler	1:31.446	ADV
4		Elise Christie		YC

With three heats to go, it was the turn of the silver medalist of the shortest distance Yara van Kerkhof and the silver medalist of the longest distance Li Jinyu. Once again, the race was full of action, with plenty of positional shifts, until Anna Seidel hit Van Kerkhof, also bringing Sofia Prosvirnova down. Li stayed away from the fall and would win the heat. The battle between Prosvirnova and Van Kerkhof was close, with the Russian finishing second behind Li. However, with that much action, Seidel received a penalty after causing the crash, and in the final stages of the heat, Prosvirnova also received one.

Heat 6 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Li Jinyu	1:32.335	Q
2		Yara van Kerkhof	1:43.364	Q
3		Sofia Prosvirnova		PEN
4		Anna Seidel		PEN

The penultimate heat would have the third Korean skater with Kim A-lang, but also veteran Marianne St Gelais. The Canadian tried to stay in front, but with only a few laps to go, Kim accelerated and took some distance from the rest of the field. St Gelais came back to finish second and qualified, despite third-placed Sumire Kikuchi skating to a new personal record. Lana Gehring received a penalty for an infringement on Kikuchi, but the Japanese was not in a position that would have earned her a qualification.

Heat 7 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Kim A-lang	1:30.459	Q
2		Marianne St Gelais	1:30.512	Q
3		Sumire Kikuchi	1:30.970	PR
4		Lana Gehring		PEN

The last heat featured the world number two Kim Boutin, and once again a fall at the start. Cynthia Mascitto didn't bring anyone with her, and the race continued as planned. However, the Italian was able to latch onto the group within the first lap, after which Boutin took control. Charlotte Gilmartin stayed second behind the Canadian, but Hitomi Saito attacked that second position and was able to qualify comfortably.

Heat 8 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Kim Boutin	1:32.402	Q
2		Hitomi Saito	1:32.457	Q
3		Charlotte Gilmartin	1:32.899
4		Cynthia Mascitto	1:32.926

Quarterfinals

The first quarterfinal featured the two Canadians Kim Boutin and Marianne St Gelais, as well as Kim A-lang. The three fought for the lead in the race, with Bianca Walter trying to use an offensive approach to qualify in front of the three. Boutin quickly restored the balance by taking the lead, and didn't give it away until the finish line had passed. Behind her, Kim prevailed a final charge of St Gelais to qualify for the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Kim Boutin	1:30.013	Q
2		Kim A-lang	1:30.137	Q
3		Marianne St Gelais	1:30.180
4		Veronique Pierron	1:30.323
5		Bianca Walter	1:31.085

In the next quarterfinal, veterans Arianna Fontana and Valerie Maltais were the big favorites to qualify, but the race also had one of the big talents Li Jinyu in it. Fontana and Maltais fought to lead the race, with the Italian coming up on top. Despite attempts from Li and Hitomi Saito to infiltrate the qualification spots, they were not able to overtake the athlete in second place.

Quarterfinal 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Arianna Fontana	1:30.074	Q, PR
2		Valerie Maltais	1:30.131	Q
3		Li Jinyu	1:30.175
4		Hitomi Saito	1:30.804

The penultimate quarterfinal featured the big favorite Choi Min-jeong, and with Lara van Ruijven, Magdalena Warakomska, and Qu Chunyu three athletes outside of the top 10 of the world rankings. Qu and Van Ruijven battled for first place for a good minute, but with just two laps to go, Choi went from last to first and comfortably advanced to the next round. Behind her, Qu took second place, with Warakomska and Van Ruijven at a safe distance.

Quarterfinal 3 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Choi Min-jeong	1:30.940	Q
2		Qu Chunyu	1:31.284	Q
3		Magdalena Warakomska	1:31.698
4		Lara van Ruijven	1:31.754

The last quarterfinal was the most interesting, with Shim Suk-hee, Suzanne Schulting, and Yara van Kerkhof three skaters out of the top five of the world rankings. The Dutch athletes quickly took the front, joined by Andrea Keszler. Similar to the previous race, the Korean skater made her attack with two laps to go, and was once again successful. Shim won the race in the last turn, with Schulting taking second, despite the last challenge of Ekaterina Efremenkova.

Quarterfinal 4 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Shim Suk-hee	1:29.159	Q
2		Suzanne Schulting	1:29.377	Q
3		Ekaterina Efremenkova	1:29.466	PR
4		Yara van Kerkhof	1:29.670
5		Andrea Keszler	1:30.642

Semifinals

Both semifinals were exciting and full of penalties. In the first semifinal, Kim Boutin, Valerie Maltais, and Arianna Fontana all got a piece of the action, while Kim A-lang tried to stay out of the violence in front, following the Korean strategy of the quarterfinals. Boutin took the lead with five laps to go, followed by Fontana, an order that would hold until the finish line. Kim tried to overtake at least one of the two in the last few laps, just like her countrywomen had done in the previous round, but she wasn't able to qualify for the final. Maltais received a penalty for an action early in the race for impeding the Korean.

Semifinal 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Kim Boutin	1:29.065	QA
2		Arianna Fontana	1:29.156	QA
3		Kim A-lang	1:29.212	QB, PR
4		Valerie Maltais		PEN

In the second semifinal, Schulting and Shim raced against each other, just like they had done in the quarterfinals, where Shim finished first. However, in this race, the roles were reversed, with Schulting taking a small victory. With Qu impeding Shim, the latter advanced to the final, as well, leaving two Korean hopefuls in the race for gold.

Semifinal 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Suzanne Schulting	1:30.949	QA
2		Shim Suk-hee	1:30.974	QA
3		Choi Min-jeong	1:31.131	ADVA
4		Qu Chunyu		PEN

Finals

The final was packed, with sixteen Olympic medals divided over all skaters. The top 4 of the world rankings were competing, thus it was bound to be an exciting race. Schulting took a quick lead, but was caught by Boutin, who was bound to win her third individual medal of Pyeongchang 2018. Schulting retook the lead and was constantly challenged by the Korean hopes, and not without risks. In the end, Shim was penalized for impeding, leaving Choi with no chance to catch up. Boutin and Fontana kept their composure to finish, earning them a place on the podium.

A Final Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Suzanne Schulting	1:29.778
2		Kim Boutin	1:29.956
3		Arianna Fontana	1:30.656
4		Choi Min-jeong	1:42.434
5		Shim Suk-hee		PEN

The B final was not held, after Kim A-lang would have been the only competitor. She was ranked fifth in the event, after her countrywoman Shim Suk-hee received a penalty in the A final.

B Final Results
Rank	Nat.	Athlete	Time	Info
1		Kim A-lang		???

Results

Suzanne Schulting won the first Dutch gold medal in short track, after Sjinkie Knegt had won the bronze medal in the 1000 metres in 2014 and a silver medal in the 1500 metres a few days prior, and Yara van Kerkhof won the silver medal in the shortest distance in 2018. She was also part of the relay team that won the bronze medal only two days prior in a new world record. Kim Boutin won her third Olympic medal in her third individual event, after winning bronze in both the shorter and the longer distance. She became the first Canadian female short track speed skater to win three Olympic medals in the same year. Arianna Fontana won her eighth medal at the Olympic Games in twelve years, and her fifth bronze medal. For the first time, the podium of a women's individual short track event did not feature any Chinese or Korean athletes, after Choi Min-jeong, Kim A-lang, and Shim Suk-hee completed the top 6.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Suzanne Schulting	Netherlands
	Kim Boutin	Canada
	Arianna Fontana	Italy
4	Choi Min-jeong	South Korea
5	Kim A-lang	South Korea
6	Shim Suk-hee	South Korea
7	Valerie Maltais	Canada
8	Qu Chunyu	China
9	Li Jinyu	China
10	Ekaterina Efremenkova	Olympic Athletes from Russia
11	Marianne St Gelais	Canada
12	Magdalena Warakomska	Poland
13	Lara van Ruijven	Netherlands
14	Yara van Kerkhof	Netherlands
15	Veronique Pierron	France
16	Hitomi Saito	Japan
17	Andrea Keszler	Hungary
18	Bianca Walter	Germany
19	Iong A Kim	Kazakhstan
20	Sumire Kikuchi	Japan
21	Anastassiya Krestova	Kazakhstan
22	Jessica Kooreman	United States
23	Charlotte Gilmartin	Great Britain
24	Petra Jaszapati	Hungary
25	Kathryn Thomson	Great Britain
26	Cynthia Mascitto	Italy
-	Deanna Lockett	Great Britain
-	Han Yutong	China
-	Lana Gehring	United States
-	Anna Seidel	Germany
-	Sofia Prosvirnova	Olympic Athletes from Russia
-	Elise Christie	Great Britain