This weekend, the skaters were competing in the 1500m twice, along with the usual other distances.
In the Ladies 1500m, Suk Hee Shim (KOR) continued her domination of the distance by taking her sixth gold of the season. With her season total of 6000 points, the World Cup title was already clinched. Jianrou Li (CHN) completes the season in second place overall, with 3548 points “ her bronze medal in the second 1500m event was enough to secure that ranking. Min-Sung Kim earned two silver medals, and ends the season in third place overall with 3136 points. Elise Christie (GBR) won gold in the first 1500m, and finishes fifth overall. The other medal winner was Marie-Eve Drolet (CAN).
Having clinched the World Cup in the men's 1500m, Jinkyu Noh (KOR) ends the season with a gold medal performance, bringing his points tally to 5800. Victor An (RUS) won the bronze medal in the second event, and finishes second place overall with 3336 points. Da Woon Sin (CHN) secures third place overall with 2928 points by taking the gold medal in the first 1500m event of the weekend. Other medal winners in the 1500m this weekend include: J.R. Celski (USA), silver medalist and Guillaume Bastille (CAN), bronze medalist in the first 1500m event; meanwhile Yun-Jae Kim (KOR) won the silver medal in the second event.
Meng Wang (CHN) won her sixth gold medal of the season in the Ladies 500m events, bringing her season's total to 6000 points. Qiuhong Liu (CHN) won the bronze medal, putting her at 3730 points and second place overall for the season. Kexin Fan (CHN) finished fourth this weekend, bringing her points total to 3562 and third place overall for the season. Marianne St-Gelais (CAN) won the silver medal and finishes fourth overall with 3372 points.
In the Men's 500m, the gold medal went to Wenhao Liang (CHN), while his teammate Dajing Wu (CHN) earned the silver medal. Niels Kerstholt (NED) won the bronze medal. Having already clinched the overall title, Charles Hamelin (CAN) did not compete in this event this weekend. The win by Liang allows him to move to third place overall in the distance ranking with 2731 points. Wu solidified his second place ranking and ends the season with 3650 points.
The Ladies 1000m podium was a all Korean affair: Suk Hee Shim won the gold medal, with Soyoun Lee earning silver and Seung-Hi Park taking bronze. With the World Cup title already clinched by Elise Christie (GBR) at 4552 points, the win confirms Shim's second place in the overall ranking with 3640 points. Park ends the season in third place with 2640 points.
On the men's side, Wenhao Liang (CHN) won the gold medal in the 1000m event, while Charle Cournoyer (CAN) wins his second individual World Cup medal in as many weekends with a silver medal. Victor An (RUS) earned the bronze medal, which wasn't enough for him to move ahead of Yoon-Gy Kwak for the World Cup title. The final ranking for the season for the distance looks as such: Kwak (4023 points), An (3812 points) and Jinkyu Noh (KOR) with 3456 points.
The weekend concluded with the relay event. The Netherlands won their first gold medal of the season, finishing slightly ahead of Canada. Overall World Cup leader China earned the bronze medal, giving China a season total of 4000 points. The silver medal allowed Canada to move into second place overall with 2912 points; Korea dropped to third place with 2824 points. In the Men's Relay, Korea took its fourth gold medal of the season, bringing their season tally to 4000 points. Their World Cup title was already clinched last weekend in Sochi, Russia. The Netherlands earned the silver medal, and conclude the season in second place overall with 3200 points. Russia's bronze medal performance moved them up to third place overall with 2952 points. This was a strong season finish for the Russians as they jumped two ranks in the last two World Cup stops.
The skaters have a few weeks now to get ready for the 2013 ISU World Championship in Drebecen, Hungary on March 8-10, 2013.