By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter

South Korea failed to clinch a gold medal at the third World Cup Short Track Sunday (KST).

Sung Si-bak and Cho Ha-ri won a silver medal in the men's and women's 1,500-meter races, respectively, in Montreal, Canada.

Sung was edged by gold medalist Charles Hamelin of Canada by 0.001 second ― 2 minute, 19.221 to 2: 19.220.

Lee Jung-su clocked in 2:19.992 in sixth place.

On the women's side, Cho crossed the finish line in 2:23.349, 0.074 seconds behind American Katherine Reutter, who had a time of 2:23.275.

The Koreans, who have collected 17 gold medals at the Winter Olympics since 1992, also struggled in the 500 meters.

The men's team crashed out of the quarterfinals, while Park Seung-hi reached the women's final, only to finish fourth.

The third and the fourth legs of the four-series competition are qualifiers for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, which kick off on Feb. 12, next year.

Short Track speed skating has four events in both the men's and women's divisions ― 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter individual races, and the 3,000 relay (women) and 5,000 relay (men). Each country can have a maximum of three skaters in each of the individual events. One skater can compete in as many as two races in addition to the relay.

Meanwhile, Lee Kang-seok and Lee Kyou-hyuk finished first and second in the men's 500-meter race Saturday at the season-opening World Cup Speed Skating in Berlin.

Kang-seok raced in 34.80 seconds to hold off compatriot Kyou-hyuk by 0.22.

Japan's Keiichiro Nagashina was third in 35.13.

Unlike short track, combined results from five events will decide Olympic qualification.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr