By Matt Flemming
Staff Reporter
The Korean short track speedskating team looks poised for yet another medal haul at the third World Cup event of the season in Montreal, Canada.
Through Day 1 on Thursday, Lee Jung-su, Sung Si-bak and Kim Seoung-il are ranked first, second and third in the men's 1,500 meters entering the quarterfinals.
Korea won all six medals that have been awarded in the men's 1,500 in the first two events but were without Lee Ho-suk, who is out with an injury.
Sung has also positioned himself well in the 500 meters through the preliminaries, ranking fourth behind Francois-Louis Tremblay and Charles Hamelin of Canada and Han Jialiang of China.
On the women's side, Cho Ha-ri and Kim Min-jung are ranked third and fourth entering the quarterfinals while Lee Eun-byul is 13th. Through the preliminaries in the 500 meters, Park Seung-hi is fifth while Lee is ninth and Cho is 14th.
The results of the Montreal tournament along with those from the fourth World Cup competition next week in Marquette, Mich. will determine how many athletes each country can send to each event at the Olympics next February in Vancouver.
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.
The results from the two events will be combined and the top 32 skaters in the 1000 and 500 meters, the top 36 in the 1,500 meters and the top eight relay teams will qualify. The results will establish a quota for each nation, so as long as Korea has at least three top-32 finishers in the 500 meters, they can send any three skaters they choose.