Kristen Santos, Maame Biney advance to women's 500m short track quarterfinal

Kristen Santos and Maame Biney of the United States advanced to the quarterfinal of the women's 500m short track competition. Santos won her heat in dramatic fashion on Saturday, pulling ahead on the final lap to earn an automatic bid. Biney came in third place in her heat, but she finished with one of the top third place times to get through. 

Biney recorded a better time than Santos 42.919 to 43.579. 

Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands had the best time on Saturday, setting an Olympic record at 42.379.

Defending gold medalist Arianna Fontana of Italy also won her heat to move on.  

Corinne Stoddard, the third American in this event, slid into the wall and did not record a time. 

The quarterfinal will take place on Monday. 

SEE MORE: Mind the gap: Biney, Jackson debate whose sport is better

Men's 1000m heats

Following the women's 500m races, the men's 1000m heats took place. 

Americans Andrew Heo and Ryan Pivirotto advanced to the quarterfinal in their first Olympic heats. Heo finished in second place behind Park Jang-Hyuk of South Korea in the first of eight races. 

Pivirotto's heat was more adventurous.

He got clipped by Italian skater Pietro Sighel, who was interfered with by Stijn Desmet of Belgium. Desmet was disqualified, so the American was awarded second place after sliding into the wall. 

Hwang Dae-Heong of South Korea set an Olympic record in his heat with a time of 1:23.04. He also owns the world record, 1:20.875, which he reached in 2016.

The quarterfinal for the men's 1000m will also take place on Monday. 

Visit NBCOlympics.com for a full short track schedule. 

SEE MORE: What's the difference between speed skating and short track?