Hwang Dae-Heon of South Korea won the gold medal in the men’s 1500m competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Wednesday. The win came in his first event since getting disqualified in the semifinal of the 1000m on Monday.
The race was a crowded field as 10 skaters partook in the A Final following penalty advancements during the semifinals.
Hwang made an outside move to take the lead in the sixth lap and never relented.
Canada’s Steven Dubois earned the silver medal and Semion Elistratov of the ROC took the bronze.
Dubois edged the Russian by 0.013 seconds, sticking out his leg at the finish.
John-Henry Krueger of Hungary won the B Final.
SEE MORE: South Korea’s Hwang Dae-Heon penalized in men’s 1000m semi
Semifinals
South Korea’s Lee June-Seo won the first of three semifinal races. Hungary’s Liu Shaolin came in second to advance.
Hwang won the second group, holding off a late surge by Elistratov and Dutch skater Sjinkie Knegt. Knegt was penalized for an arm block on Krueger and was eliminated.
The third semifinal was the most chaotic of the three. Canada’s Charles Hamelin and China’s Ren Ziwei were penalized, leading to three additional advancements to the final along with the top-two finishers. Hamelin won silver in the 1500m at the 2018 Winter Olympics and Ren captured the gold in the 1000m on Monday.
Liu Shaoang, Shaolin’s brother, won the race with South Korea’s Park Jang-Hyuk taking second.
Quarterfinals
The top three skaters in each quarterfinal advanced automatically, while the three best fourth-place times also moved on.
Liu Shaolin won the opening heat, his first race after getting disqualified in the 1000m final. Liu cut in front of Canada’s Pascal Dion from the outside and set the Olympic record at 2:09.213.
American Andrew Heo finished sixth in the second race, but he moved up to fifth after a penalty. Heo hovered at the back of the group but could not find opportunities to pass.
Ryan Pivirotto, the other U.S. skater in the discipline, was penalized for a lane change causing contact during the next race. He crossed the finish line fourth in a tight battle. Hwang won the heat.
Hamelin won the fourth group without much drama, as did Knegt in the fifth heat.
Ren and Liu Shaoang earned the top two spots with ease in the sixth heat. Their races mirrored each other as they made outside passing moves on the same lap.
SEE MORE: Liu Shaolin Sandor sets Olympic record in men’s 1500m
What’s next?
Short track action returns on Friday when the women’s 1000m medals are on the line.
Americans Kristen Santos, Corrine Stoddard and Maame Biney advanced from heats on Wednesday, as did defending gold medalist Suzanne Schulting from the Netherlands.
The men’s 500m heats and 5000m relay events are also scheduled for Friday.
See the full short track schedule on NBCOlympics.com.
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