The 500m men is the first distance skated. For one skater the high hopes for the weekend are over: Tobias Schneider fell in the last inner. The three skaters who reached the podium are very close together. A summary:

Pair one: Ervik beats Dankers, and his 37.40 is normal for him, no personal best. Dankers' 38.42 will be the slowest of all who finish.

Pair 2: Hirako and Haugli skate the same time, 37.64. For Haugli, that means a personal best by 0.2 second. 

Pair 3: Carl Verheijen skates the fastest time so far. His 37.13 is also a personal best by the minimal 0.01 second. Christiansen does 37.56.

Pair 4: Chad Hedrick's style doesn't look great, but he opens in 10.43 (fastest so far) and clocks the first 36. 36.77. Rojler does 37.60.

Pair 5: Warsylewicz opens faster with 10.34 and skates 37.09, okay for him. Contin has not a particularly good technical 500 and his time is 37,72. 

Pair 6: Jarmo Valtonen opens in 10.14, the fastest so far. His 36.67 is now the leading time and a personal best by twice te improvement of Verheijen. Wouter Olde Heuvel had the first false start, and finishes in 37.12.

Pair 7: A whistle at the start calls Schneider back, for he moves. The second try is good. He is faster than ever. But coming out of the last inner, he loses his balance and slides into the boarding. Anesi is hindered a little but continues to finish in 37.69. After grabbing his head mostly in disbelief, Schneider stands and continues the last 100m, finishes in 1:28.98.

Pair 8: Stefan Heythausen does a better job for Germany. He improves his pb to 36.44, the new leading time, and Kwun-Won Choi also improves himself, to 36.53.

Pair 9: Steven Elm skates 36.66, but nobody notices him. His pairmate is Shani Davis, defending champion. After a movement at the first start, Davis skates 35.84 and leads. His opening had been 10.17.

Pair 10: Fabris has a false start just like Davis, but then skates 36.27, much to make good... Bøkko is okay, opens in 10.17 but finishes in 36.58.

Pair 11: Denny Morrison opens 10,11, Skobrev 10.10. But Morrison wins, faster than Davis with 0.03, in 35.81. Skobrev only 36.43.

Pair 12 and last: Sven Kramer gets a false start. Then he and Wennemars skate well. Opening Wennemars 9.94, Kramer 10.29. But Wennemars crosses behind and then eats him before entering the last inner. Wennemars wins, just, in 35.79. Sven Kramer is equally happy with his personal best of 36.41, be it behind Fabris, Davis and Morrison.