The Italian Arianna Fontana defended her Olympic title in the Women’s 500m short track at the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
The finale was, as usual, quite dramatic. First, there was a foul start by world record holder Kim Boutin (Canada). At the second start, there was a fall on the first turn and Arianna Fontana and Kim Boutin had to change the iron on their skates.
Only in the third start, everything was normal. The Olympic champion in the 1,000m from PyeongChang 2018 Suzanne Schulting from the Netherlands took the lead in front of Arianna Fontana, but shortly before the final, the Italian got a chance to overtake her, which she did not miss.
Thus, Arianna Fontana finished in 42.488 sec, followed by the world champion in the Suzanne Schulting sprint with 42.559 sec.
Kim Boutin finished third with 42.724 sec, repeating her result from PyeongChang 2018.
The 31-year-old Arianna Fontana became the only short track athlete, female or male, to win ten Olympic medals after taking gold today, as well as silver in the Italian mixed relay in the Chinese capital.
Arianna Fontana is already a two-time Olympic champion in the 500m, has three more silver and five bronze medals from the Winter Olympics in her career.
China’s Fan Kexin was eliminated in the quarterfinals, as was two-time Olympic long-distance champion Choi Min-jeong (Republic of Korea).
Women’s 500m short track:
1. Arianna Fontana (Italy) – 42.488 sec
2. Suzanne Schulting (Netherlands) – 42.559 sec
3. Kim Boutin (Canada) – 42.724 sec
