Short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres


The men's 500 metres in short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics took place on 23 February at the Salt Lake Ice Center.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
DateRoundTeamTimeORWR
23 FebruaryHeat 742.326OR
23 FebruaryQuarterfinal 341.806OR
23 FebruaryA Final41.802OR

Results

Heats

The first round was held on 23 February. There were eight heats of four skaters each, with the top two finishers moving on to the quarterfinals.
;Heat 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Li Jiajun43.690Q
2Arian Nachbar44.057Q
3Matúš Užák44.499
4Asen Pandov77.124

;Heat 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Simon Van Vossel43.119Q
2Apolo Anton Ohno43.214Q
3Cees Juffermans43.253
4Andrew McNee44.289

;Heat 3
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Takafumi Nishitani43.211Q
2Marc Gagnon43.395Q
3Krisztián Szabó44.143
4Volodymyr Hryhor'iev70.431

;Heat 4
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Kim Dong-sung42.834Q
2Rusty Smith42.849Q
3Dave Allardice42.980
4Ganbatyn Jargalanchuluun52.225

;Heat 5
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Fabio Carta43.787Q
2Bruno Loscos43.864Q
3Leon Flack43.965
4Mark Jackson44.064

;Heat 6
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Feng Kai43.084Q
2Wim De Deyne43.205Q
3Martin Johansson43.435
4Krystian Zdrojkowski44.117

;Heat 7
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Jonathan Guilmette42.326Q
2Satoru Terao42.334Q
3Balázs Knoch42.533
4Miroslav Boyadzhiev43.462

;Heat 8
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Nicola Franceschina42.876Q
2Steven Bradbury43.226Q
3Ludovic Mathieu43.790ADV
Lee Seung-jaeDQ

Quarterfinals

The top two finishers in each of the four quarterfinals advanced to the semifinals.
;Quarterfinal 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Jonathan Guilmette42.809Q
2Apolo Anton Ohno42.895Q
3Fabio Carta43.113
4Arian Nachbar43.626

;Quarterfinal 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Rusty Smith42.359Q
2Marc Gagnon42.384Q
3Takafumi Nishitani42.535
Nicola FranceschinaDQ

;Quarterfinal 3
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Kim Dong-sung41.806Q
2Wim De Deyne41.832Q
3Li Jiajun64.514
4Bruno Loscos99.879

;Quarterfinal 4
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Satoru Terao42.692Q
2Feng Kai42.820Q
3Steven Bradbury44.982
4Ludovic Mathieu73.328
Simon Van VosselDQ

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. In the second semifinal, American Apolo Anton Ohno caused Japan's Satoru Terao to fall, resulting in Ohno's disqualification, while Terao was advanced to the A final.
;Semifinal 1
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Rusty Smith41.916QA
2Marc Gagnon41.981QA
3Kim Dong-sung41.990QB
4Wim De Deyne42.823QB

;Semifinal 2
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Jonathan Guilmette42.201QA
2Feng Kai42.266QA
3Satoru Terao65.790ADV
Apolo Anton OhnoDQ

Finals

The five qualifying skaters competed in Final A, while two other raced for 6th place in Final B.
;Final A
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
Marc Gagnon41.802
Jonathan Guilmette41.994
Rusty Smith42.027
4Feng Kai42.112
5Satoru Terao42.219

;Final B
RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
6Kim Dong-sung42.076
7Wim De Deyne42.961