S. Korean women win gold, bronze in short track

South Korean short tracker Park Seung-hi captured the gold medal and teammate Shim Suk-hee grabbed the bronze in the women's 1,000 meters on Friday at the Sochi Winter Games.

Park finished the nine-lap race in 1:30.761, holding off Fan Kexin of China by 0.05 second to earn her second gold medal and third medal overall in Sochi. Shim finished third in 1:31.027, picking up her third medal at her first Olympics.

Park and Shim earlier teamed up to win the gold medal in the 3,000ｍ relay. Park also has the bronze from the 500ｍ, and Shim won the silver in the 1,500ｍ.

The two South Koreans got out in front early in the nine-lap race at Iceberg Skating Palace. After exchanging leads between themselves, Park was in control in the lead, with Shim right behind her with three laps left.

Fan then made a move on the outside to slide in between the two South Koreans during the final lap. The Chinese even tried to grab Park from behind near the finish line, but the South Korean stayed on her skates for the gold.

South Korea leads all countries with 21 gold medals in short track since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.

Earlier on Friday, Park Se-yeong and Lee Han-bin were eliminated from the quarterfinals in the men's 500ｍ.

In the men's quarters, 16 skaters were divided into four groups of four, with the top two from each moving on to the semifinals. Park received a penalty for interference in the second group, while Lee finished third in the fourth group.

South Korea has now been shut out of men's short track medals for the first time since 2002. Earlier in Sochi, the country came up short in the 1,000ｍ, 1,500ｍ and 5,000ｍ relay.

Viktor Ahn of Russia won the gold in the 500ｍ, his second in Sochi. He was born Ahn Hyun-soo in South Korea and won three gold medals at the 2006 Olympics for his native country. He became a Russian citizen in 2011 and won two gold medals and one bronze medal for his adopted country.

Ahn is the most decorated Olympic short tracker, male or female, with five career gold medals. (Yonhap)