The Netherlands' Lara van Ruijven was the fastest in the women's 500m heats at the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup finale in Dordrecht ©Getty Images

Home athlete Lara van Ruijven was the fastest in the women's 500 metres heats as action began today at the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Cup season finale in Dutch city Dordrecht.

The reigning world champion clocked a time of 43.003sec in heat six in qualifying for the quarter-finals at Sportboulevard.

In the men's 500m heats, South Korea’s Lee June-seo was the quickest in 40.686.

South Korea shone brightest in the 1,000m heats, with Park Ji-won leading the way in the men's in 1:24.285 and Lee Yu-bin doing so in the women's in 1:31.360.

Park is the top-ranked athlete over both the 1,000m and 1,500m distances, and was the number one overall going into the meeting in Dordrecht.

South Korea's Park Ji-won qualified fastest for the men's 1,000m quarter-finals ©ISU
South Korea's Park Ji-won qualified fastest for the men's 1,000m quarter-finals ©ISU

Also held today were the 1,500m quarter-finals.

Australia’s Keanu Blunden qualified strongest for the men's semi-finals in 2:14.538.

In the women's quarter-finals, China's Han Yutong set the standard with a time of 2:22.239.

China were the dominant force in the relay quarter-finals.

In the mixed 2,000m event, Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu, Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing performed best across the three heats in 2:41.381.

Fan and Qu were also part of China's women's 3,000m team, along with Zhang Chutong and Zhang Yuting, that topped the standings in 4:10.583.

As for the men's 5,000m competition, Russia's Denis Ayrapetyan, Daniil Eybog, Konstantin Ivliev and Alexander Shulginov were the fastest quartet in 6:46.007.

Races continue tomorrow and the meet will reach its climax on Sunday (February 16).

The ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Dordrecht is the final event on the calendar before next month's ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in South Korea's capital Seoul.