Five-time world overall short-track speed skating champion Yang Yang (A) won China's first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal with a runaway victory in the 500m final on Saturday.

Yang Yang, putting behind her a dismal fourth place finish in the 1,500 metres three days ago, got off to a sparking lead and never looked back to cross the line in 44.187 seconds.

World-record holder and four-time European champion Evgenia Radanova followed home 0.065 seconds behind.

Another Chinese, Wang Chunju, the world champion in the shortest distance came in third, two-hundredths of a second further behind.

Yang, 25, whose name is tagged with the letter A to distinguish her from her younger teammate and namesake, Yang Yang (S), is the overall World Cup winner this season, with the top points in the 1,000m and 1,500m.

In the 1,500m, the younger Yang, 24, who won two silver medals in Nagano four years ago, crashed out while chasing hard after two South Korean teenagers, Ko Gi-Hyun and Choi Eun-Kyung, who eventually finished one-two. Yang Yang (A) ended up fourth.

Yang Yang (S) did not compete in the 500 metres.

(China Daily February 17, 2002)