Short track speed skating Liu brothers "golden return"

Source: Global Times

【Global Times Special Correspondent Xu Yunfeng】The 2023-2024 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Montreal 22 came to an end, and in the men's 500m Group A final, China's Liu Shaoang crossed the finish line first with a time of 40.875 seconds, winning the second gold medal of the World Cup for the Chinese short track speed skating team. On the 21st, the Chinese team that sent Liu Shaoang (Lin Xiaocheng fell and injured shortly after the start of the final, and was replaced after the rematch), Liu Shaolin, Gong Li and Zang Yize won the 2000m mixed relay championship, which is also the first gold medal of the new season for the Chinese short track speed skating team. In the gold medal list of this event, the South Korean team topped the list with 4 golds, 4 silvers and 1 bronze, followed by the host Canadian team with 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, and the Chinese team ranked third with 2 golds.

Liu Shaoang is eager to return to the ring

Olympic champions and former Hungarian short track speed skaters Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang, who were naturalized in China in March, both came to Montreal this time and won World Cup gold medals in the 2,000m mixed relay. The official website of the ISU said after the competition that the Chinese mixed relay team finally won, and the Liu brothers "returned in gold". Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang, who are fluent in Mandarin and have previously trained in Asia, have made the transition seamless, and their arrival clearly strengthens the relay lineup of the Chinese short track speed skating team. Yonhap News Agency said that in the mixed relay final, the South Korean team composed of Kim Gil-ri, Kim Jian-woo, Seo Yi-la and Shen Seok-hee was overtaken by the Chinese team and finally won the silver medal.

On the 21st, in the short track speed skating World Cup in Montreal, Canada, the Chinese team won the 2000m mixed relay championship, and the South Korean team and the Italian team won the second and third places. (Visual China)

In the individual competition, Liu Shaoang won the men's 500m championship. The ISU official website said after the match that after 12 months away, Liu Shaoang has been eager to return to the field. At the Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal, the reigning Olympic 500m champion proved to be as sharp as ever. Liu Shaoang took the lead at the start of the race and "proved to be too strong for runner-up Felix Rosell (Canada) and third place Quentin Fecock (France)".

After winning the championship, Liu Shaoang said: "I'm really tired. We took a year off but it felt good to come back. It's great to feel the pressure and play again. I'm really happy. I'm here today representing China and it's a great feeling and the competition is exciting. In addition, Liu Shaoang believes that their training in Beijing can take the brothers to the next level.

Lin Xiaocheng met Huang Daxian again after 4 years

One of the highlights of the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Montreal is the showdown between Chinese and Korean star skaters. In the 2022-2023 season, Lin Xiaocheng returned wearing the Chinese team uniform, and Lin's former teammate and South Korea's Hwang Dae-hyun did not qualify for the Korean national team this season. This season, the two were both selected for their respective national teams and faced each other again after four years. It is worth mentioning that Lim Hyo-chan and Hwang Dae-hyun were once teammates of the South Korean national team, but their relationship broke down during training in 2019. Lim Hyo-chan was later suspended for one year by the Korean Skating Association, after which he became a naturalized citizen of China and met Hwang Dae-heon again in the international arena after four years.

In the men's 1500m event at Montreal, Lin Xiaocheng and Huang Daxian had a strong dialogue. In the semifinals of the event, Lin led early in the competition, followed by Wong Da-hsien looking for opportunities. With 3 laps left, Huang Daxian instantly rose to 2nd place, squeezed Lin Xiaocheng to 3rd place, and then increased his speed, rose to the leading position and calmly opened the gap, advancing to the final as 1st place. Lin Hsiao-chan finished in third place and did not qualify for the final. Yonhap News Agency said after the match that Hwang Dae-hyun defeated Lim Hyo-han by a landslide to enter the final, winning the World Cup gold medal for the first time in a year.

However, in the second final of the men's 1000m in Montreal on the 22nd (editor's note: the host of each World Cup race can decide to race more than once in a specific event to increase the chance of winning gold), Huang Daxian not only did not make the podium, but also received a yellow card. At the sprint moment, Hwang Dae-heon, who was originally ranked No. 4, chose to change lines and tried to forcibly overtake from the inner road, but knocked his previously number one teammate Park Ji-won out of the field, and both fell down. Hwang Dae-heon received a yellow card for dangerous moves, and Park Ji-won, who was expected to win gold, only finished fourth, and the title was taken away by another South Korean player, Kim Jian-woo.

Yonhap News Agency said that the refereeing team believed that Hwang Dae-heon had committed a serious foul that could cause injury to other players, so it issued a yellow card and disqualified from the competition, and all points accumulated by Hwang Dae-hyun in the event were confiscated. Perhaps influenced by this, South Korea won silver in the men's 5,000m relay final, and Canada won gold.

"The Next Queen"

The South Korean team scored 3 gold medals in the men's event and 1 gold medal in the women's event at the Montreal stage. In addition to Hwang Dae-heon and Kim Jian-woo reaching the top, Park Ji-won won the first men's 1000m championship, and Kim Gilly won the second competition in the women's 1000m. The official website of the ISU said that Park Ji-won won the first crystal ball award of the ISU, and he is still chasing the trophy. In the first final of the 1000m in Montreal, Park defeated local favourites Steven Dubois (Canada) and Pietro Siegel (Italy) to win the title.

Gingili's victory was dramatic, with Gingili in third place until the final corner, but she took advantage of the opportunity to overtake the duo to win the title when leading Hannah Demay (Belgium) and Kristen Santos (USA) fought physically. Choi Min-jing, a former South Korean short track speed skating team ace, temporarily withdrew from the South Korean national team, and the official website of the International Skating Federation said that with several big-name players retiring or suspended, this season's short track speed skating World Cup seems to provide a new generation of female athletes with an opportunity to reach the top. Hannah Demay, who won the women's 1500m in Montreal, and Christine Santos, who won her first women's 1000m, tried to prove that she could be the next queen.

The second leg of the 2023-2024 Short Track Speed Skating World Cup will be held at the same venue from 27 to 29. It is reported that this season's short track speed skating World Cup has a total of 6 stops, except for the first two in Montreal, Canada, the remaining four stops are held in Beijing, Seoul, South Korea, Dresden, Germany and Gdansk, Poland. Liu Shaoang is looking forward to the World Cup on his doorstep: "When we play in Beijing in December, it will be a big game and it will be a full house. ”