The defending champion and the Olympic record holder was Nao Kodaira.

Erin Jackson was leading the 2021–22 ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the 500 m distance with eight events completed before the Olympics, followed by Golikova and Kodaira.

A total of 30 entry quotas were available for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per NOC.

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

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