Calgary / Canada

 

WCST-CAN-Ladies-500m-Gettyimages-621538608Elise Christie (GBR) and Shaolin Sandor Liu (HUN) claim wins in the 500 m

Elise Christie of Great Britain claimed the win in the second Ladies’ 500 m event of the weekend. Christie, who lead the race from start to finish, also moves into the lead of the World Cup classification for the distance after two events. Jamie Macdonald (CAN) earned the second place finish, narrowly finishing ahead of Yara van Kerkhof (NED). Petra Jaszapati (HUN) settled for fourth place.

On the Men’s side, Shaolin Sandor Liu (HUN) won the 500 m event in a dominant fashion despite the effort of Semen Elistratov (RUS) to close the gap. Elistratov crossed the line in second place, ahead of Sjinkie Knegt (NED). Denis Nikisha (KAZ) was the other skater in the final and finished in fourth place. The 500 m is the first event to be raced twice this season, therefore both Liu and Samuel Girard (CAN) share the lead in the Men’s World Classification for the distance.

One-two finishes for Korea and Canada in the Ladies and Men’s 1000 m events

Korean skaters Minjeong Choi and Suk Hee Shim finished first and second in the Ladies 1000 m event. Suzanne Schulting (NED) crossed the line in third place edging out Kim Boutin of Canada for the last podium spot. A photo finish review was required to determine the second, third and fourth place finishes, as all three skaters were separated by 16 one-thousands of a second.

On the Men’s side, Charle Cournoyer and Samuel Girard provided Canada with a one-two finish in the 1000 m event. The second place finish gave Girard his second individual medal of the weekend. Shaoang Liu (HUN) finished in third place ahead of Itzhak de Laat (NED). Daan Breeuwsma (NED) finished in fifth place as a result of a fall early in the race.

Korean women skate to a world record in the Relay eventWCST-CAN-LadiesRelay-Gettyimages-621524600

A new world record was set in the Ladies’ 3000 m Relay by the Korean team. The record was set at the Olympic Oval, home of the “fastest ice in the world”. Netherlands finished in second place, while Hungary took advantage of a fall by Canada early in the race to take the third podium spot.

The Men’s 5000 m Relay was closely contested between Hungary and Netherlands, with the former holding on to the win ahead of the Netherlands. Both Korea and Canada fell during the race, albeit at different times, and the final podium place going to Korea.

The ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series continues next week in Salt Lake City (USA) on November 11-13, 2016.