The cream rose to the top quickly as a group of about a dozen separated, led by world record holder Jiayu Yang. Defending champion Kimberly García took the point after the first lap and held the lead of the tight group through the halfway point as the lead pack whittled down to seven. After falling early in the race, Antonella Palmisano edged ahead to carry the lead to 15k. While most of the 1 kilometer laps had been in the 4:20's, on the 16th lap María Pérez dropped a monster 4:06 lap. Only Jemima Montag was able to produce any answer with a 4:10, which separated her from the rest of the pack but still 4 seconds down to Perez, who continued with a 4:09, 4:05 and 4:06 to leave no doubt about winning, ultimately 25 seconds ahead of Montag. Palmisano was able to get a slight edge on Alegna González and Glenda Morejón then had to hold off a 4:08 final lap by García León to take bronze.
Records
Before the competition records were as follows:[2]