Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Nagano

The fourth stop of the 2008-09 Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track season was held this weekend in Nagano, Japan. The Korean team had an impressive weekend, tallying a total of 13 medals in Nagano, ending the first portion of the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track season on a strong note.

The Chinese team continued on their strong form from the previous weekend, earning 8 medals in Nagano. The Canadian team earned 6 medals for a second consecutive weekend. The other teams to leave Nagano with medals were the United States (2 medals) and France (1 medal).

This weekend’s Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track schedule had the athletes compete in the 1500 meters distance twice. In the ladies events, the Korean dominated the podium in this distance. In the first ladies 1500m, Jung-Su Lee (Korea) took the win ahead of her teammate Sae-Bom Shin. For a second consecutive weekend, Allison Baver (United States) earned a third place finish. In the second ladies 1500m, Sae-Bom Shin finished first ahead of American Katherine Reutter. Third place went to Min-Jung Kim of Korea. In the World Cup distance classification, Yang Zhou (China) is in the lead after six races.

In the ladies 500 meters, the Chinese domination continued, with all three podium places going to a skater from China. Meng Wang won the event, and in doing so, regained the lead of the World Cup classification in this distance. Second place went to Quihong Li, and third place to Tian Yu Fu. In the men’s 500 meters event, Korean skater Si-Bak Sung won the event ahead of Jialiang Han of China. Third place finish went to Thibaut Fauconnet of France, earning the country’s first World Cup medal of the season. The distance World Cup classification lead is held by Si-Bak Sung.

Meng Wang of China also had a strong showing in the ladies 1000 meters event. In winning this weekend’s event, Meng Wang increased her lead in the World Cup distance classification. So far this season, she has won four of the five races. Second place in this weekend’s ladies 1000m event went to Quihong Liu (China) while third place went to Shin-Young Yang (Korea). On the men’s side, the Koreans had a second consecutive one-two podium finish weekend. The podium result was in fact the same as in Beijing, a mere week ago, with Ho-Suk Lee crossing the line first, ahead of his teammate Yoon-Gy Kwak. Charles Hamelin (Canada) was third. Both Ho-Suk Lee and Yoon-Gy Kwak share the points lead in the World Cup distance classification.

The weekend concluded with the relay events. The ladies Chinese team continued their domination in the 3000 meters relay event, keeping their perfect record after four rounds of the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track. Second place finish went to the team from Korea, while the Canadians took third place. In the men’s 5000 meters relay event, the Canadian men’s relay team took their first win of the year, finishing ahead of Korea (second), and China (third). With the win, Canada also takes the lead in the World Cup distance classification.

The 2008-09 Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track circuit takes a break for the holiday season, and will resume in Sofia, Bulgaria on February 6-8, 2009.

Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track – Nagano (JPN)

Top 3 Results by Category

Ladies 500m