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China, S. Korea Split ISU World Cup Short Track Gold Medals
China and South Korea split the two gold medals at stake in the first-day competitions at the second leg of the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Provo, Salt Lake on Friday.
Li Jiajun clocked 2:24.112 to take the men's 1,500m gold medal, beating South Korean Kim Dong-Sung to second in 2:24.133, with the bronze medal going to Canada's Marc Gagnon in 2:24.297.
The women's 1,500m title was won by South Korean Park Hye-Rim in 2:31.727, with Chinese Yang Yang (A) finished second in 2:31.745 and Bulgarian Evgenia Radanova took the bronze medal in 2:31.852.
"It was a morale-boosting win for the Chinese men skaters as they failed to make any finals in Calgary, the first leg of the World Cup," said Chinese team manager Tong Lixin.
"Li Jiajun has a promising performance all the way in the heats, the semi-finals and the finals," said Tong, "we did hope for a gold medal from the men skaters but it's really hard for him to triumph eventually as he had to make the final two in the six-member semifinals which has three former world champions."
"For Yang Yang (A), a silver medal was still worthy of celebration because she had to chase one of three South Koreans from the very beginning of the finals," said the team manager, " and we did want to downplay the World Cup series to some extent in order to create a more favorable atmosphere for the Chinese women skaters in the World Championships as well as in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games."
Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States, who reapt four titles in Calgary in the men's 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and overall, was disqualified in the 1,500m semifinals here, a big surprise for thecheering home audience at the Seven Peaks Ice Arena in Provo, some 80 kilometers south of Salt Lake City.
The ISU Short Track World Cup will continue its second-day competitions with two more gold medals at stake in the men's and women's 500m events on Saturday.
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