This weekend, the skaters were competing in the 500m twice, along with the usual other distances.
In the Ladies 500m events, Meng Wang (CHN) continued her domination in this distance, taking her fifth gold medal of the season, whereas the second 500m was won by her teammate Kexin Fan. Wang sits at 5000 points in the World Cup ranking, which is enough for her to clinch the title for distance. Meanwhile, Fan’s tallies 3312 points, in second place overall. Qiuhong Liu (CHN) who is third overall with 3090 points earned a bronze medal this weekend. Arianna Fontana (ITA) earned two silver medals, and now ranks fifth overall with 2460 points. Gabrielle Waddell (CAN) earned her first individual World Cup medal with a bronze; she ranks ninth overall.
On the men’s side, Charles Hamelin’s (CAN) gold medal in the first 500m event was enough to earn him the World Cup title in this distance. This was his second consecutive gold medal in the 500m, giving him a total of 4400 points. Dajing Wu (CHN) earned the gold medal in the second 500m event, adding to his silver medal in the first event. He now sits in second place overall with 2850 points. Vladimir Grigorev (RUS) earned two bronze medals in this distance, and now sits in third place with 2618 points. Jiyang Yu (CHN) was the other medalist in the 500m events, with a silver medal on Sunday. He ranks ninth overall with 1224 points.
In the Ladies 1500m, Suk Hee Shim (KOR) continued her domination by taking her fifth gold of the season. Shim’s points total now show 5000, a lead of 2120 points over her closest rivals. Shim has clinched the 1500m World Cup title with two events to go. Jianrou Li (CHN) earned a silver medal this weekend, which now puts her in a tie with Ha-Ri Cho (KOR) for second place with 2880 points. Elise Christie (GBR) earned 640 points for her bronze medal performance this weekend; she ranks sixth overall in this distance.
Jinkyu Noh (KOR) also clinched the 1500m World Cup title by winning a gold medal this weekend. His 4800 points are enough to secure the title. His teammates Yun-Jae Kim (silver medal) and Yoon-Gy Kwak (bronze medal) completed the podium this weekend. Victor An (RUS) remains in second place in the overall ranking with 2696 points; on third is Semen Elistratov (RUS) with 2234 points. The bronze medal by Kwak puts him fifth overall with 1768 points, while Kim moves to ninth place with 1201 points.
The Ladies 1000m World Cup title was also clinched this weekend, with Elise Christie’s (GBR) silver medal. It was her second medal for the weekend, which puts her at 4552 points overall in this distance. Gold medal winner was Seung-Hi Park (KOR); her second win in this season that placed her sixth with 2000 points. Bronze medal winner was Suk-Hee Shim (KOR) who is now in second place with 2640 points.
On the men’s side, Charles Hamelin (CAN) earned his second gold medal of the weekend, and moved up into fifth place overall in the 1000m World Cup ranking with 2210 points. Semen Elistratov (RUS) won the silver medal, and moved onto ninth place with 935 points; J.R. Celski (USA) was back on the podium this weekend with a bronze medal – he now sits fourth overall with 2592 points. World Cup leader, with 4023 points, remains Yoon-Gy Kwak (KOR) despite finishing 14th this weekend in the 1000m. Kwak’s closest rival remains Victor An (RUS) who with 3172 points is the only contender left for the World Cup title for ths distance.
The weekend concluded with the relay events. In the Ladies 3000m relay, China won its fourth consecutive gold medal of the season. They also clinched the World Cup title, with 4000 points and only one event to go. Their closest rival in the ranking is Korea with 2722 points, followed by Japan with 2720 points; neither teams finished on the podium this weekend. Instead, Canada won silver (fourth with 2624 points) and Italy won bronze and ranks fifth with 1952 points. In the Men’s Relay, the local crowd was pleased to see their team win the gold medal. The win moves Russia into fourth place with 2522 points. Netherlands earned the silver medal, and remains in second place overall with 2610 points. China won bronze, and sits at a close third place behind Netherlands with 2592 points. World Cup leaders Korea were seventh overall, which was enough for them to clinch the overall World Cup relay title.
The Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series resumes next weekend in Dresden, Germany on 8-10, 2013.