SHORT TRACK
Short Track queen Fontana goes for 13th Olympic medal in Women’s 500m
11 Feb 2026
For more information about Short Track in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, please check here
The spotlight once again falls on Italy’s Short Track queen Arianna Fontana when the fast and the furious take to the ice for the Women’s 500m and Men’s 1000m at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Thursday.
Competition starts at 20:15 local time at the Milano Ice Skating Arena with the 500m quarterfinals.
Fontana (ITA) aiming for third Olympic 500m gold
- Living legend Arianna Fontana (ITA) aims for a third consecutive Olympic gold in her favorite distance, the 500m.
- Fontana is competing in her sixth Olympic Games and has won 12 medals so far, including the Mixed Relay gold in Milan on Tuesday.
Arianna Fontana (ITA) celebrates retaining her 500m title at the Beijing Games. Can she make it a hat-trick in Milan? © Getty Images
- World Record holder Xandra Velzeboer (NED) wants to make up for the disappointment in the Mixed Relay when Dutch medal chances slipped away after a fall.
- Velzeboer and Fontana will meet right away in the first quarterfinal.
- The deep field features more top contenders:
- 2022 Olympic 1000m bronze medalist Hanne Desmet (BEL)
- 2022 Olympic 500m bronze medalist Kim Boutin (CAN)
- Three-time Olympic Champion Choi Minjeong (KOR)
A slip put paid to Xandra Velzeboer's Mixed Relay medal hopes on Tuesday. She will hope to bounce back in the 500m © Getty Images
Hwang Daeheon (KOR) the man to beat in the Men’s 1000m
- 2022 1500m Olympic Champion Hwang Daeheon (KOR) is the World and Olympic Record holder and the man to beat in Milan.
- The 2022 Olympic bronze medalist over this distance, Liu Shaoang, is back but now competes for China instead of Hungary.
- Four-time ISU World Champion William Dandjinou (CAN) is looking to make an impact in his Olympic debut.
- Other contenders to watch are Sun Long (CHN), newly minted Olympic Champion in the Mixed Relay Pietro Sighel (ITA), Jens van T’Wout (NED) and rising star Rim Jongun (KOR).
Olympic Champion Hwang Daeheon (KOR, left) faces a tough test from the in-form William Dandjinou (CAN, right) in the 1000m © Getty Images
Quick Facts
- Twenty Women and Men compete in the 500m and 1000m.
- The two fastest athletes in each quarterfinal (Q) and the two fastest third-placed athletes (q) qualify for the semifinals.
- The Women’s 500m World Record is 41.416s (Xandra Velzeboer) and the Olympic Record is 42.379s (Suzanne Schulting, Beijing 2022)
- Hwang Daeheon holds both the World record (1:20.875) and Olympic record (1:23.042) in the Men’s 1000m
