in the final, like the men's race, the favorite was the slowest starter, though falck quickly moved into sixth place. by the end of the first lap the field was tightly packed, ileana silai, vera nikolić and svetla zlateva and three abreast for the lead at 58.31. at 500 metres, falck decided to move and slightly accelerated away from nijolė sabaitė and gunhild hoffmeister but found herself blocked behind the wall. the wall began to break up during the final turn, silai the first to start fading allowing falck some running room, coming off the turn she accelerated into the lead. pulling away from the field falck relaxed to cruise across the finish line. sabaitė made a late run at her from a huge deficit, as she came into view, falck had to accelerate a little to hold her off for a narrow win. hoffmeister followed sabaitė in passing the pack for bronze, but was too far behind to be competitive for higher medals.