Speed skating pile-up leads China to gold

China's Li Jianrou narrowly missed a three skater pile-up during the women's 500m short track final.

Elise Christie of Britain and Arianna Fontana of Italy crash out as Li Jianrou of China races to gold in the women's 500m short track speed skating final (AAP).

The speed skater managed to surge ahead as her competitors slid into the boards.

Though six seconds behind, Italy's Arianna Fontana earned a silver while South Korea's Seunghi Park scored a bronze in third place.

Britain's Elise Christie technically finished the race in second but was penalised for causing the crash.