[1] The reigning 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Champion Yu Jing did not start due to reoccurrence of an old waist injury.

The top 20 of the 2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – Women's 500 metres standings after the fourth World Cup race in Berlin secured a spot for their country.

Then the additional 16 spots were awarded based on a time ranking of all times skated in the World Cup and the 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.

[3] Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

[8][9] On 24 November 2017, silver medalist from Russia Olga Fatkulina was disqualified for a doping violation.