The 2012-2013 Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series resumed this weekend with a second weekend in Canada. This time, the circuit travelled to the Maurice-Richard arena in Montreal, with the majority of the teams and athletes competing again. Skating on home soil went well for the team from Canada, yielding twelve medals. Korea and China earned seven and six medals, while the United States earned two medals. Other countries to earn medals were Great Britain, Japan and Russia, each with one medal.
During the weekend, the skaters competed over the 500m distance twice along with the usual other distances. In the first Ladies 500m final, Meng Wang (China) won her second race in this distance in as many weekends, allowing her to take the lead in the World Cup classification for the distance. Canadian Jessica Gregg was second, while Qiuhong Liu (China) was third. The second Ladies 500m was an all Canadian affair, with a podium sweep. Gregg moved up one rank, to take the win, with Marianne St.Gelais taking second. Third place finisher was Caroline Truchon, who earned her first ever World Cup medal.
On the Men's side, team Canada had a dominant weekend in the 500m events, earning five of the six possible medals. Wenhao Laing (China) took the win in the first of the events. Charles Hamelin and Olivier Jean finished second and third respectively. The podium sweep in the second event was led by Guillaume Bastille with teammates Michael Gilday (second) and Liam McFarlane (third) very close behind. The Men's World Cup ranking leader after two rounds is Charles Hamelin.
In the Ladies 1500m, the podium result was exactly the same as it was a week ago in Calgary: Suk Hee Shim (Korea) finishing ahead of her teammate Ha-Ri Cho, while third place went to Jianrou Li of China. The win gives Shim the lead in the World Cup distance classification. The winner of the Men's 1500m event was also the same as the previous weekend: Jinkyu Noh of Korea. J.R. Celski (USA) finishes second while Semen Elistratov (Russia) finishes third. The win allows Noh to extend his lead in the World Cup Men's classification for the distance.
The Ladies 1000m final was won by local favorite Valerie Maltais (Canada) who was cheered on by the home crowd. Elise Christie (Great Britain) finished second, allowing her to maintain her lead in the World Cup ranking for the distance. Ha-Ri Cho was third. On the Men's side, Yoon-Gy Kwak of Korea was first, narrowly edging out Charles Hamelin. Third place finisher was Jinkyu Noh. The win allows Kwak to take the lead in the 1000m World Cup ranking.
The races concluded on Sunday with the Ladies and Men's relay events. In the Ladies 3000m relay, China finished ahead of Canada, while Japan finished in third place. In the Men's 5000m relay event, Korea won for a second consecutive weekend, finishing ahead of China this time around. The team from the United States was third. After two events, the World Cup leaders for the relay distances are China (ladies) and Korea (men).
The Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series will resume at the end of November, in Nagoya, Japan (Nov. 30-Dec.2, 2012).