China grabbed four more gold medals and one silver at the Short Track Speedskating World Championships in Vienna, Austria, on Sunday.
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China's Wang Meng (front), Zhou Yang and South Korea's Kim Min-jung compete in the women's 1,000 meters final at the World Short Track Speedskating Championships at the Ferry Dusika stadium in Vienna, Austria, on Sunday.[Shanghai Daily] |
Wang Meng skated to gold in the women's 1,000 meters with a time of 1'29"878 on Sunday and claimed the women's all-round title at the same time.
In the final, China's Zhou Yang finished behind Wang, clocking 1'29"887, but lost out on a silver medal after being called for a foul. Instead, South Koreans Kim Min-jung and Shin Sae-born took the silver and bronze medals with timings of 1'29"97 and 1'30"901, respectively.
A disappointed Zhou quickly pulled herself together and won the following 3,000 meters race in 4'58"955, adding another gold medal to the Chinese collection. The silver and bronze medals went to Kim and Shin.
The Chinese women's team also upset their strong Korean rivals in the 3,000 meters relay, finishing ahead in 4'10"531. Korea finished second followed by Canada.
In the men's 5,000 meters relay, China finished for a silver medal. The United States took the gold while Japan settled for the bronze.
At the end of the three-day Short Track Speedskating Championships, China had won five gold medals of the 10 on offer, thus topping all participating nations.
The Chinese team leader, Yang Zhanwu, said his athletes "performed to their full capacity," but stressed that the skaters still had a lot of work to do to build on the success.
South Korea's Lee Ho-suk won the 1,000 meters men's title in 1:33.060, ahead of Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States who clocked 1:33.262.
J.R. Celski, also of the United States, was third in the 1,000 but followed up by winning the 3,000 in 4:48.444. Lee was second in that event, with Canada's Charles Hamelin taking bronze.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2009)