HARBIN, China (Reuters) – Triple Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong led the way with three golds as South Korea dominated the short-track speed skating at the Asian Winter Games in Harbin over the weekend.
Short track is one of the few sports with genuine world class competition at the Winter Asiad and the South Koreans claimed six of the nine titles, with China snaring two and Kazakhstan claiming the last gold.
Choi won individual titles in the 500 and 100 metres and also helped her country to the 2,000m mixed team gold to complete a career sweep of all five Asian Games titles available to women.
The multiple world champion was, however, unable to retain the women’s 3,000m relay title she helped South Korea win in Sapporo in 2017.
Choi had her team in the lead heading into the anchor leg but team mate Kim Gil-li, who had already won 1,500m gold, made contact with China’s Gong Li and slid out to leave the home team a clear run to gold.
“Winning gold against the South Korean team is like extracting teeth from a tiger, so we approached that 3,000m relay with a relaxed mindset, our expectations weren’t very high,” China’s head coach Zhang Jing told Xinhua news agency.
“South Korea’s top athletes Kim and Choi are more experienced and competitive compared to some of our athletes, but the gap between us is narrowing.”
Lin Xiaojun, who won Olympic gold for South Korea as Lim Hyo-jun before making a switch to China in 2021, won the host nation’s other gold in the men’s 500m but slipped while leading in the 2,000m mixed team relay final.
The 28-year-old also clashed with South Korea’s 1,500m champion Park Ji-won and slid out in the anchor leg of the men’s 5,000m relay, allowing Kazakhstan’s Adil Galiakhmetov to skate past and claim the gold.
South Korea have topped the medals table in short-track speed skating at the last two Winter Olympics and Zhang said the Asian Winter Games had been useful preparation for China’s team ahead next year’s edition in Italy.
“Our athletes have gained valuable experience for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and learned lessons, particularly regarding athletes’ mindset,” she told Xinhua.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Michael Perry)
