MOSCOW, October 5 (R-Sport) – Russian short track speedskating star Viktor Ahn took his first win of the Sochi 2014 Olympic season on Saturday with victory in the 500 meters in the second ISU World Cup stage in his native Seoul.
The three-time Olympic champion completed the distance in 40.764 seconds, two-tenths quicker than China's Dajin Wu and a full two seconds faster than Korea's Se Yeong Park, who came third.
The other Russian in the final, Vladimir Grigorev, crashed out but recovered to complete the skate. Grigorev had claimed the silver at the opening World Cup stage in Shanghai last month, while Ahn had recorded two bronzes in his favorite 1,500m.
The star of the season so far is Canada's Charles Hamelin, who clinched two gold medals at his home games in Vancouver in 2010 and has three victories to his name already this year.
Ahn, formerly known as Hyun-Soo Ahn, has stated his goal since acquiring Russian citizenship in 2012 is to win gold for his new country at the Sochi Games in February.
The 27-year-old won gold in the 1,000 and 1,500 and 5,000m relay disciplines at the 2006 Turin Games but a serious knee injury hampered his performances since then.
