Marianne St-Gelais wins second event of the weekend in the Ladies 500 m
Marianne St-Gelais (CAN) won her second individual event of the weekend in the Ladies 500 m final, in a race that included three Canadians, Arianna Fontana (ITA) and Ye Jin Kim (KOR). St-Gelais led the race from start to finish, crossing the line ahead of Kim. Jamie Macdonald (CAN) finished the race in third place ahead of her teammate Kassandra Bradette. Fontana received a penalty in the race. The win allows St-Gelais to move into the lead of the World Cup classification for the distance, ahead of Elise Christie (GBR).
On the Men’s side, the Liu brothers from Hungary finished first and third. Shaolin Sandor Liu dominated the race from the start to take the win. His brother Shaoang was sitting in second placed until Dae Heon Hwang (KOR) moved into that spot with one lap to go, splitting the brothers at the end of the race. Charles Hamelin (CAN) finished in fourth place while Alexander Shulginov (RUS) finished in fifth. Despite not competing this weekend, Dajing Wu (CHN) maintains his position at the top of the World Cup rankings for the distance.
Suzanne Schulting (NED) and Sjinkie Knegt (NED) claim top spots in 1500 m (2) events
Suzanne Schulting (NED) took the lead with five laps to go and went on to win the Ladies 1500 m (2) final, earning her second individual World Cup medal of the weekend. Ah Rum Noh (KOR) earned her first individual World Cup medal with a second place in the race, finishing ahead of Valerie Maltais (CAN). Yutong Han (CHN) finished in fourth place while Kim Boutin (CAN) was fifth. Aoi Watanabe (JPN) was the other skater in the final and finished sixth. Despite not competing this weekend, Suk Hee Shim (KOR) clinched the World Cup title for the distance with one more event to go.
On the Men’s side, Sjinkie Knegt (NED) led much of the race to win the second 1500 m final of the weekend, and his third win in the distance this World Cup season. The win allows Knegt to move back into the lead of the World Cup classification for the distance. Csaba Burjan (HUN) earned his first career individual World Cup medal with a second-place finish in the race. Vladislav Bykanov (ISR) finished in third place, crossing the finish line ahead of John-Henry Krueger (USA). Finishing fifth to seventh were: Byeong Jun Kim (KOR), Hyo Been Lee (KOR) and Hiroki Yokoyama (JPN).
Netherlands (Ladies) and Russia (Men) take gold in the Relay events
The Netherlands won today’s Ladies 3000 m Relay final, a race that they led from start to finish. Italy finished a very close second while Canada finished in third. Japan was the other team in the event and ranked fourth. Korea continues to lead the World Cup classification, although Netherlands has closed the gap with one event left.
The Men’s 5000 m Relay was won by Russia, in a race that saw all four teams in the final take the lead at some point and finishing within three-tenths of each other. Netherlands finished in second place followed by Korea. Hungary received a penalty in the race, and loses the lead in the World Cup rankings for the distance to Netherlands.
For full results of the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series 2016/17 please refer to http://shorttrack.sportresult.com/ and /en/speed-skating/series/isu-world-cup-speed-skating
The ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series concludes next weekend in Minsk, Belarus from February 10-12, 2017.