S. Korea collects two medals at Short Track World Cup

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- Host South Korea collected two medals at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating on Saturday.

Choi Min-jeong won the women's 1,500-meter gold medal in 2:24.515, beating teammate Shim Suk-hee by 0.181 second at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul. This was Choi's third World Cup title in the distance in four attempts. Kim Boutin of Canada took third place.

A third South Korean in the final, Kim A-lang, finished in sixth place.

Later in the men's 1,500m final, Hwang Dae-heon took silver medal behind Charles Hamelin of Canada.

Hwang's teammate Lim Hyo-jun came in third place but was later disqualified after a near-collision with Thibaut Fauconnet of France.

In the women's 1,500m final, the three South Koreans started the 13.5-lap race in the back of the pack. About four laps into the race, Kim briefly moved out to the front, before Shim and Boutin separated themselves from the pack.

Those two, plus Arianna Fontana of Italy, were in the lead with four laps to go, with Choi lurking in the back. Then over the final stretch, Choi kicked into another gear and an impressive burst of speed pushed her to first place in a blink of an eye.

"I did a lot better than I'd expected here, and I fed off the crowd's energy today," Choi said. "This World Cup season has been an opportunity to test myself and prepare for the Olympics. In this final, things didn't quite go the way I'd planned early, but I stayed composed and finished the race well."

In the men's race, Hwang and Lim positioned themselves in the front early on, before Hamelin joined them. Soon, it was a two-man race between Hwang and Hamelin, and the Canadian edged out the Korean by just 0.03 second in 2:14.179.

Lim was the third skater to cross the finish line but both he and Fauconnet were penalized.

Hwang, the youngest member of the South Korean team at 18, said the World Cup season has been a learning experience.

"I know I still have long ways to go," Hwang said. "I let Hamelin pass me over the final lap, and it goes to show you how much work I have to do."

South Korea will try to add more medals in the men's and women's 500m later Saturday.

Then on Sunday, the final day of the competition, finals for the men's and women's 1,000m, and the women's 3,000m relay and men's 5,000m relay will take place.

This is the fourth and final leg of the World Cup season, and also the final qualifying event for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

A total of 110 Olympic spots, 55 each for men and women, are up for grabs. At World Cups, individual skaters and relay teams each earn 10,000 points for gold, 8,000 for silver, 6,400 for bronze and so forth. In the 500m and 1,000m for both men and women, 32 quota spots are up for grabs. In the 1,500 for both, the maximum is 36. And eight teams apiece will compete in the men's 5,000m and women's 3,000m relays.

South Korea is guaranteed five men and five women in all races as the Olympic host, but has all but secured maximum quotas of three skaters in every distance on merit.

South Korea leads all nations with 21 Olympic short track gold medals all-time.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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