BEIJING (AP) – There’s no knocking off South Korea in men’s 1,500-metre short track
speedskating.
For the fourth time in six Olympics, a skater from the hotbed of short track took the title.
Hwang Dae-heon stuck his skate in front in a tight finish of the 10-man final at Capital Indoor Stadium yesterday.
Steven Dubois of Canada earned silver. He crashed in his semi-final, but was advanced to the A final when 2018 silver medalist Sjinkie Kneght of the Netherlands was penalised.
Russian skater Semen Elistratov took bronze, matching his finish from four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games.
There were so many skaters in the final that six lined up on the start and the other four were in back. The pack circling the rink looked more like a relay than an individual final.
But there were no crashes, unlike the second night of competition that was loaded with spills and penalties.
Liu Shaoang of Hungary finished fourth. His brother, Liu Shaolin Sandor, was sixth.
South Korea was well represented in the final. Besides Hwang, Lee June-seo finished fifth and Park Jang-hyuk was seventh.
