A total of thirty-six speed skaters could qualify for this distance, with a maximum of four skaters per country. The top 20 of the 2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – Women's 1000 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. A reserve list was also made.[2]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
On 24 November 2017, Russian athlete Olga Fatkulina was disqualified for a doping offence.[5] In January 2018, she successfully appealed against the disqualification at the court of arbitration for sport.[6]