Miho Takagi of Japan won silver, and Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands bronze.

Brittany Bowe and Evgeniia Lalenkova were the silver and bronze medalist, respectively.

Ayano Sato was leading the 2021–22 ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the 1500 m distance with four races completed before the Olympics, followed by Bowe and Takagi.

Takagi skated the season best time, 1:49.99 in Salt Lake City on 5 December 2021.

A country could only earn the maximum three spots through the World Cup rankings.