Beijing, China, February 7, 2022: On a dramatic and at times chaotic night of short track speed skating at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday, China picked up gold and silver in the men’s 1000 metres.
Hungary’s Liu Shaolin Sandor looked to have held off a three-pronged Chinese challenge to win the final in a photo finish – but, under review, he was given a yellow card for two penalties in the same race and disqualified.
This meant the gold medal went to Ren Ziwei (1 minute, 26.768) and silver to his teammate Li Wenlong (1:29.917).
Liu Shaoang, younger brother of disqualified teammate Liu Shaolin Sandor, took the bronze (1:35.693), ahead of China’s Wu Dajing in fourth place (1:42.937).
This twist in the tale earned a second gold for China on the second night of the short track competition, two days after their thrilling win in the first mixed relay in Olympic history on Saturday night.
The final, featuring three Chinese skaters and the two Liu brothers from Hungary, was halted midway through as the track was deemed dangerous due to loose ice chippings. The drama was far from over, however, as the photo finish was deemed unnecessary when Liu was disqualified for his two infringements.
Ren, 24, won his second gold medal of Beijing 2022 and his third Olympic medal overall following a relay silver at PyeongChang 2018.
*Italy’s defending Olympic champion Arianna Fontana won the women’s 500m in 42.48 seconds ahead of the Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting (42.57) in silver and Canada’s Kim Boutin (42.73) with bronze. China’s Zhang Yuting finished fourth in 42.81. It was Fontana’s ninth Olympic medal dating back to Torino 2006 and her second gold.
In the women’s 500m quarter-finals, two of Asia’s best short trackers were eliminated – China’s Fan Kexin and Korea’s Choi Min-jeong, the latter slapping the ice in anger after slipping on a corner and crashing into the padding.
In the semi-finals, China’s Qu Chunyu was penalised for a push, leaving Zhang Yuting as the lone Asian skater in the final.
*In the men’s 1000m quarter-finals, five penalties were issued in the first three races before Dutch skater Sjinkie Knegt was shown a yellow card for two penalties in the fourth race. Korea’s Park Jang-hyuk was injured in the first race and was carried off the ice. He was advanced to the semi-finals but did not start.
In the semi-finals, Korea’s Hwang Dae-heon was penalised after winning the first race and then teammate Lee June-seo was disqualified in the second semi, putting three Chinese into the five-man final.
Photo: OCA