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Speed Skating at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games:

Women's 500 metres

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Host City: Lillehammer, Norway
Location: Hamar Olympic Hall
Date Started: February 19, 1994
Date Finished: February 19, 1994

Gold:USA Bonnie Blair
Silver:CAN Susan Auch
Bronze:GER Franziska Schenk

Summary

Everybody expected US skater Bonnie Blair to collect her third consecutive gold medal in the event, and she did just that. Just three weeks before the Olympics, Blair had dominantly won the World Sprint Championships, winning all four distances. She had also taken all but one 500 m World Cup, being defeated just once by Korea's Yu Seon-Hui. In addition, Blair had held the world record with 39.10 since her Olympic victory in 1988.

In Hamar, Blair came quite close to her own world record, despite that being set at the fast high-altitude rink in Calgary. With 39.25, she won by a large margin. Second was Canada's Susan Auch, who had been a regular podium occupant since the previous season. Known for her fast 100 ms, she held on long enough to finish in 39.61 and claim the silver. Third place was rather surprisingly taken by 19-year-old Franziska Schenk. The World Junior Champion of 1993 had seen some good World Cup results earlier in the season, and crowned her season with a bronze medal and praise from the winner.

Bonnie Blair’s third consecutive victory in this event made her only the second Winter Olympian to win an individual event three times consecutively, after Sonja Henie in women’s figure skating. The feat would be matched by Claudia Pechstein in the 5,000 metres in 1994-1998-2002.

Final Standings

Glossary ▪ CSV ▪ PRE
Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal T 100m
1 Bonnie Blair 29 United States USA Gold 39.25 10.60
2 Susan Auch 27 Canada CAN Silver 39.61 10.52
3 Franziska Schenk 19 Germany GER Bronze 39.70 10.62
4 Xue Ruihong 25 China CHN 39.71 10.51
5 Yu Seon-Hui 27 South Korea KOR 39.92 10.55
6 Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt 25 Germany GER 39.95 10.68
7 Svetlana Boyarkina-Zhurova 22 Russia RUS 40.17 10.55
8 Edel Therese Høiseth 28 Norway NOR 40.20 10.91
9 Jin Hua 21 China CHN 40.23 10.68
10 Kyoko Shimazaki 22 Japan JPN 40.26 10.68
11 Yang Chunyuan 20 China CHN 40.37 10.79
12 Angela Stahnke-Hauck 28 Germany GER 40.38 10.84
13 Ye Qiaobo 29 China CHN 40.42 10.93
14 Tomomi Okazaki 22 Japan JPN 40.55 10.93
15 Anke Baier-Loef 21 Germany GER 40.59 10.85
16 Michelle Morton 21 Canada CAN 40.71 10.97
17 Oksana Ravilova 26 Russia RUS 40.72 10.98
18 Shiho Kusunose 24 Japan JPN 40.94 11.17
19 Christine Aaftink 27 Netherlands NED 41.01 11.14
20T Svetlana Fedotkina 26 Russia RUS 41.05 11.28
20T Kristen Talbot 23 United States USA 41.05 11.10
22 Nataliya Polozkova 21 Russia RUS 41.06 11.10
23T Peggy Clasen 24 United States USA 41.13 11.34
23T Mihaela Dascălu 24 Romania ROU 41.13 11.02
25 Mayumi Yamamoto 22 Japan JPN 41.20 11.11
26 Linda Johnson-Blair 22 Canada CAN 41.42 11.03
27 Emese Dörfler-Antal 22 Austria AUT 41.59 11.33
28 Gang Mi-Yeong 15 South Korea KOR 41.96 11.36
29 Cerasela Hordobeţiu 25 Romania ROU 42.15 11.42
30 Krisztina Egyed 17 Hungary HUN 42.29 11.35
31 Jeong Bae-Yeong 17 South Korea KOR 42.63 11.39
32 Cheon Hui-Ju 18 South Korea KOR 43.05 11.56
33 Catriona Le May Doan 23 Canada CAN 59.75 10.67 fall
AC Michelle Kline 25 United States USA DQ