Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track - Quebec City (CAN)
The 2007-08 Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track season resumed
this weekend in Quebec City, Canada for the fifth round of
the season. This year marks Quebec City’s 400th anniversary,
and to bolster these celebrations, the city is hosting for
the first time the World's best Short Track speed skaters.
The event was held at the newly renovated Pavillon de la Jeunesse.
The Korean team, despite being without their star athlete
Ahn Hyun-Soo, along with the Chinese team continued this weekend
at the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track where they left off
in December 2007, with wins in all of the events except for
one. The Korean team left Quebec City with 9 medals, while
the Chinese team took 7 medals. Surely motivated by skating
in front of a home crowd, the skaters from Canada had a strong
performance this weekend, earning 9 medals.
The schedule of races at this weekend’s Samsung ISU
World Cup Short Track had the athletes compete in the 1000
meters distance twice. The first of the ladies 1000 meters
was won by Kalyna Roberge from Canada. This was to be the
only race that neither a skater from Korea or China would
take the top place on the podium. Evgenia Radanova from Bulgaria
showed she was still a fierce competitor, taking second place.
Seung-Yi Park of Korea was third. In the second ladies 1000
meters event, Yang Zhou of China took the win, with fellow
teammate, Quihong Liu, taking third. Sun-Yu Jin of Korea split
the Chinese skaters for second place.
The men’s 1000 meters events were won by Si-Bak Sung
of Korea (Day 1), and Zhiqiang Zhang of China (Day 2). Ye
Li (China) and Guillaume Bastille (Canada) took second and
third place respectively, in the Day 1 men’s 1000 meters
event. In the second men’s 1000 meters event, Marc-André
Monette of Canada took second place, while his teammate Guillaume
Bastille took third, confirming that his first World Cup podium
the previous day was no fluke.
Both the ladies and men 1500 meters events were dominated
by the Koreans, with the skaters taking first and second places.
On the ladies side, the win went to Sun-Yu Jin of Korea followed
by teammate Shin-Young Yang. Allison Baver of the United States
took third place. On the men’s side, first and second
places went to Korean skaters Ho-Suk Lee and Seung- Hoon Lee.
Charles Hamelin of Canada took third place.
The ladies 500 meters event was dominated by the fast Chinese
skaters, who once again, demonstrated their strength in this
distance. Meng Wang won the event, with teammate Nannan Zhao
taking third. Kalyna Roberge, split the Chinese skaters to
take second place. The men’s 500 meters event was won
by Korean skater Yoon-Gy Kwak. Charles Hamelin of Canada pleased
the home crowd with a second place finish. Jon Eley of Great
Britain was a surprise presence on the podium, taking third
place for his first podium of the 2007-08 season.
The weekend concluded with the relay events. In the ladies
3000m relay, the Chinese team took the win ahead of the crowd
favorite Canadian ladies team. Bulgaria offered a surprise
performance to take third place. The men’s 5000 meters
relay was a closely fought race, with the top 3 teams separated
by less than 0.9 seconds. The Koreans took the win, with the
United States in second and Canada in third. The next and
final Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track event takes place
on February 8-10, 2008 in Salt Lake City (USA).
Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track – Quebec
City, Canada
Top 3 Results by Category
Ladies 500m
1 WANG, Meng CHN
2 ROBERGE, Kalyna CAN
3 ZHAO, Nannan CHN
Men 500m
1 KWAK, Yoon-Gy KOR
2 HAMELIN, Charles CAN
3 ELEY, Jon GBR
Ladies 1000m Day 1
1 ROBERGE, Kalyna CAN
2 RADANOVA, Evgenia BUL
3 PARK, Seung-Yi KOR
Ladies 1000m Day 2
1 ZHOU, Yang CHN
2 JIN, Sun-Yu KOR
3 LIU, Qiuhong CHN
Men 1000m Day 1
1 SUNG, Si-Bak KOR
2 LI, Ye CHN
3 BASTILLE, Guillaume CAN
Men 1000m Day 2
1 ZHANG, Zhiqiang CHN
2 MONETTE, Marc-Andre CAN
3 BASTILLE, Guillaume CAN
Ladies 1500m
1 JIN, Sun-Yu KOR
2 YANG, Shin-Young KOR
3 BAVER, Allison USA
Men 1500m
1 LEE, Ho-Suk KOR
2 LEE, Seung-Hoon KOR
3 HAMELIN, Charles CAN
Ladies Relay
1 CHINA
2 CANADA
3 BULGARIA
Men Relay
1 KOREA
2 UNITED STATES
3 CANADA
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