1,500 metres, Women

The 2018 and 2022 champion in the 1,500 m, Choi Min-Jeong, was hoping to add an unprecedented third consecutive title to her name in Milano. This was not an unrealistic hope: she had won World titles in the event in 2022 and 2025, been runner-up in 2023, and won one of the World Tour races in the running season. Competition was expected from her team mate, Kim Gil-Ri, the 2024 World Champion and winner of two World Tours in 2025/26, and Courtney Sarault who had won the remaining World Tour. The 2023 World Champion Suzanne Schulting was also competing, although she had mostly competed in long-track speed skating in recent years, including in Milano-Cortina. Her compatriot Xandra Velzeboer was considered an outsider, being more of a sprinter but obviously in shape with two golds earlier in the Games. Arianna Fontana, having already won 14 Olympic medals and having raced in all finals thus far in Milano-Cortina, was the obvious home favourite.

The most remarkable feat in the quarter-finals was the exit of Kristen Santos-Griswold, runner-up at the 2024 worlds. The second semi-final was full of action: first Schulting fell, followed by Aurélie Lévêque and Elisa Confortola clashing. When Sarault then also fell, Velzeboer seemed headed for another individual final, but one lap later she also slipped away in the same curve. Schulting, Sarault and Velzeboer later complained of poor ice quality in the race, but the surprise qualifiers were Yang Jingru and Lam Ching Yan. Lam’s qualification was especially remarkable, as she had qualified from the quarter-finals with some luck due to two penalties in her heat. She would eventually place seventh and last in the final, but still achieve Hong Kong’s best ever result at the Winter Olympics (which had previously been 18th).

With Sarault and Velzeboer out, this seemed to leave the door wide open for the Koreans, although they had to contend with Fontana, Yang, and Lam, as well as Corie Stoddard and Arianna Sighel. The final started out slowly, but with 7 laps to go, Choi moved up from fifth to second in a single move, settling behind Stoddard and before the Italians. Kim then passed the two battling Italians on the inside to move into third. With 2.5 laps to go, the two Koreans made their move on Stoddard, Choi passing on the inside and Kim on the outside. Coming out of the following curve, Kim then continued to progress forward, passing Choi on the inside. Kim then further skated away from the pack to earn her first second gold of the Games, while Choi and Stoddard held on for the podium.

Kim and Choi confirmed the Asian and Korean dominance in this event. Since 2002, all gold medallists have been Asian, with five of them Korean, and six runners-up were also Asian, again with five Korean. Stoddard gave her Olympics a happy ending, having previously fallen in the mixed relay, 500 m and 1,000 m. In the process, she earned the first medal for the United States in the event.