Liu Shaoang won the men's short-track speed skater's 500-meter race at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday, becoming Hungary's first individual gold medalist at the Winter Games.
The world champion of the event - who already won the Beijing bronze medal in the medley and 1000 meters, and was fourth in the 1500 meters - was able to start from the most advantageous track, thanks to his time in the semi-finals. From there, he won every race this season in the sprint distance. Kazakh Abzal Azgalyev, Russian European champion Konstantin Ivliyev, Canadian Olympic silver medalist Steven Dubois and Italian Pietro Sighel, the World Cup bronze medalist, ran with him.
The 23-year-old speed skater from the FTC caught the repeated start brilliantly, ran the laps at a perfect pace and easily repelled all attempts to overtake - especially Ivliyev's attack - so he finally achieved a historic success. Ivliyev was second and Dubois third.
World Cup winner Sándor Liu Shaolin, bronze medalist in Beijing with the medley relay, sixth in the 1,500 meters, and ranked at the end of the field due to two irregularities in the 1,000 meters, and third-placed in the mixed relay, Olympic runner-up Krueger John-Henry four years ago in the 1,000 meters, still in American colors, are both in the quarterfinals said goodbye.
The Hungarian delegation already won its third medal in the Chinese capital, as the medley relay and Liu Shaoang both finished third in the 1000 meters.
Source: infostart.hu
Featured image: MTI/Tamás Kovács
