South Korea have stolen the spotlight from the traditional powerhouses of long-course speed skating here Sunday when Mo Tae Bum beat the Europeans to be crowned in the men's 1,500 meters at the Harbin Universiade.
The 20-year-old Mo, who came onto the track as one of the last pair to compete, led all the time since the very beginning and clocked one minute and 48.25 seconds for the title, though his result is a distant time from the current universiade record of 1:45.66.
"I'm very exciting to win a gold for South Korea since the 1,500 meters is not my speciality and there's a lot for me to improve in this discipline," said Mo, a junior of the Korean Sport University who was the third placer at both men's 500m and 1,000m in the 2007 Turin Universiade.
Konrad Niedzwiedzki of Poland was beaten to the second place with a time of 1:48.35, while Russia's Alexey Esin settled for a bronze medal on 1:50.33.
"It's not an easy job for me to take the bronze," said Esin after the race. "I failed to start well and did not concentrate myself fully into the race.
"I think it's not as hard for the Chinese, the South Koreans and the Japanese to compete here as the Europeans like me, since here's five hours on clock ahead of my hometown and I still feel uncomfortable with the time difference," he added.
To be against Esin's theory, the second-placed Polish felt better in Harbin than in Turin two years ago.
"I'm really happy because of my second place finish here in such a tough competition. And my previous universiade was not so lucky," said Niedzwiedzki.
Mo's compatriot Yeo Sang Yeop finished the fourth after timing 1:50.60, and another South Korean Mun Joon had to leave the track half way during the race as he sustained his leg soon after the start.
The host China, whose skaters have hardly made outstanding results in international long-course events of the long track speed skating, finished well within expectation as Jin Xin was the seventh on 1:51.12, Cheng Yue 14th on 1:52.23 and Ren Zhenhua 26th on 1:54.37.
(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2009)