S. Korea Claims 7 Gold Medals
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
South Korea short trackers proved their prowess, Sunday (KST), adding five more gold medals on the last day of the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Lee Ho-suk won three golds in the men's 1,000 meters, 3,000-meter super final and 5,000-meter relay; and Park Seung-hi topped the podium in the women's 3,000-meter super final as well as the 3,000-meter relay.
The short track Asian powerhouse swept seven of the 10 events _ the only three that Korea failed to win were the women's 500- and 1,000-meters, and men's 500 meters.
Vancouver Olympics' two-time silver medalist, Lee grabbed the first gold in the 1,000 meters crossing the finish line just 0.033 of a second ahead of domestic rival Kwak Yoon-gy, who earned gold in the 1,500 meters.
He then added another gold in the 3,000-meter super final, which only takes place at these championships and features the top eight skaters based on World Cup points.
In the final men's event, the relay, Lee teamed up with Kim Seoung-il, Kwak and Lee Jung-su, and overwhelmed the opposition for Lee's third gold.
On the women's side, Park, who produced two bronze medals in the Winter Games, crossed the finish line first clocking in at five minutes 4.070 seconds over her teammates Cho Ha-ri and Lee Eun-byul in the 3,000-meter super final.
It was the second sweep for the women's team, taking all three medals in this event as well as the 1,500 meters.
Cho fought hard against world No.1 Wang Meng of China in the 1,000 meters but took second 0.092 seconds behind Wang.
Meanwhile, Sung Si-bak's woes continued at the Championships.
In the men's 1,000-meter semifinal, Sung, who missed out on a medal in the 1,500 meters and had to settle for silver in the 500 meters in Vancouver after falling while in the lead, went down again.
To make matters worse for the Korean, he crashed and injured his ankle. It is not yet known how badly hurt he is.