The 2009-2010 ISU World Cup Short Track made its second stop of the season this weekend in Seoul, Republic of Korea. For a second weekend in a row, the Korean team finished the World Cup event with the most podium finishes, earning a total of 10 medals. The team from China was a close second with 8 medals, while Canada took 4 medals. Both the United States and Japan took a medal each.
On Saturday, Meng Wang of China made it back to back wins in the ladies 500m event, consolidating her lead in the World Cup standings in this distance. Wang was dominant throughout the qualifying rounds, and led the Final from start to finish. Her teammate Nannan Zhao placed in second, with Canadian Kalyna Roberge took third. In the men’s 500m event, it was a similar journey for Canadian skater Charles Hamelin, who dominated his races throughout the qualifying rounds. Hamelin took the win ahead of Jialiang Han of China, and Ho-Suk Lee of Korea. The fifth place of Yoon-Gy Kwak allows him to maintain his slight lead in the World Cup ranking for the distance.
The 1500m Finals event were also raced on Saturday, with Korean skaters taking the win in both the ladies and men’s events. Eun-Buyl Lee took the win ahead of two Chinese skaters, pleasing the spectators in attendance. LinLin Sun and Yang Zhou finished second and third respectively. The third place finish allows Zhou to maintain her lead in the Word Cup ranking for the distance. For a second weekend in a row, the men’s 1500m event was a Korean sweep of the podium. This time it was Ho-Suk Lee to win, ahead of the Jung-Su Lee. Third place finish went to Seoung-Il Kim. The win allows Ho-Suk Lee to take the lead in the World Cup ranking for the distance.
On Sunday, the Koreans skaters continued their dominance in the individual races, winning both the ladies and men’s 1000m events. In the ladies’ Final, it was Ha-Ri Cho finishing first, while her teammate Seung-Hi Park took third. Splitting the two Korean skaters was Meng Wang of China. Katherine Reutter (United States) fifth place allowed her to maintain her lead in the World Cup standing for the distance. On the men’s side, Ho-Suk Lee (Korea) took the win, ahead of American skater Jordan Malone, while teammate Yoon-Gy Kwak (Korea) finished third. World Cup distance leader, Jung-Su Lee (Korea), finished fourth in the event this weekend.
The weekend concluded with the relay events, with the ladies taking to the ice first. In the ladies 3000ms event, China finished ahead of Japan, while Canada took third. In the men’s 5000m relay event, it was a two-team battle between Korea and Canada. The Korean team managed to edge out Canada for the win, to the delight of spectators, while China finished third.
The next ISU World Cup Short Track event takes place on November 5-8 in Montreal, Canada. This event will serve as the first of two Olympic qualifying event
Results
