Suzanne Schulting, the Dutch 1,000 metres gold medallist from Pyeongchang 2018, won the heat over that distance in 1min 33.068sec, with South Korea's Olympic 1,500m champion Choi Min-jeong taking the second automatic qualifying place in 1:33.456.

South Korea's Kim Ye Jin, a 3,000m relay gold medallist in Pyeongchang, also moved safely through to the 1,000m quarter-finals, winning in 1:32.099 in the Olympic Oval arena that hosted short track at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Hungary's Petra Jaszapati posted the fastest time of the round, 1:30.163.

In the men's 1,000m heats, China's Olympic 500m champion Wu Daiju won his heat in 1:26.712 after three golds at the last leg in Calgary.

Pyeongchang 5,000m relay gold medallist Sandor Liu Shaolin won his heat in 1:25.273, and his Hungarian team-mate and brother Liu Shaoang earned the second qualifying place in his heat behind Charle Cournoyer of Canada, who clocked 1:24.965.

Ren Ziwei, a member of the Chinese team that took Olympic relay silver behind Hungary, won his heat in 1:26.397.

Competition will run throughout the weekend, culminating with the final relay races on Sunday (November 11).

It follows the opening leg of the season in Canadian city Calgary last weekend.

The top skaters in the world will compete in the 500m, 1,500m and two 1,000m races, as well as relays.

The mixed gender relay, which is due to make its Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, will also be contested.