KOLOMNA, Russia, November 17 (R-Sport) – Triple Olympic short-track speedskating champion Viktor Ahn won the 500 meters in his adopted home of Russia on Sunday to take the overall World Cup title for the distance and also won two more medals.
Ahn, a former South Korean star who took Russian citizenship two years ago, was followed by his teammate Vladimir Grigorev second in a powerful illustration of Russia's fast-growing short-track program ahead of hosting next year's Olympics in Sochi.
"Everything feels good," Ahn said. "We demonstrated a good result. I hope that at the Olympics the results will be even better."
The 2010 Olympic champion in the 500m, Charles Hamelin of Canada, could only manage 16th in the 500m, but recovered on Sunday to take gold at 1,000m, while France’s Thibaut Fauconnet finished second and Vancouver bronze medalist J.R. Celski of the United States was third.
Ahn claimed silver in the 1,500m behind Celski, and earned another silver medal in team pursuit.
Reigning overall world champion Sin Da Woon experienced a disappointing weekend, finishing seventh in the 1,500m and being eliminated in the heats in the 1,000m, his top disciplines.
Among the women, three-time Vancouver Olympic champion Meng Wang lost in the 1,000 m heats but then won her third consecutive final at 500m and led China to relay gold.
In the 1,500m event, Shim Suk Hee of South Korea claimed the World Cup title for the distance, beating Canada’s Valerie Maltais, while China’s Zhou Yang came in third. There was disappointment for Britain’s Elise Christie, the reigning European champion over the distance, who was seventh.
Christie improved later to take the bronze in 1,000m, finishing behind Arianna Fontana of Italy and Kin Alang of South Korea.
Russia's results ensured the country has the maximum Olympic quota of three skaters in each individual event in Sochi, an impressive feat for a country that has never before won an Olympic medal.
At the second round of the long-track World Cup in Salt Lake City, Vancouver Olympic champion Lee Sang-Hwa stole the limelight, beating her own world record at 500m twice in two days.
The 24-year-old Korean dropped another 38 decimals from the time she set last week in Calgary, stopping the clock at 36.36 seconds.
Another world record fell in the men’s team pursuit where the Netherlands set the bar at 3 minutes 35.60 seconds.
Other Sochi medal contenders burnished their credentials, with Ireen Wust of the Netherlands skated to gold at 1,500m and Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took first place in the 3,000m.
Double Olympic champion Shani Davis has been battling financial problems after his sponsor left him, but skated his fastest time since 2009 to win the 1,500m and the 1,000m.
The third day of competition will see finals at 500m and 5,000m for the men and also the women's 1,000m and team pursuit.
