Olympic speed skating results: Russia’s An, South Korea’s Park win gold
A bevy of speed skating events took place in Sochi on Friday, with Russia’s Victor An and South Korea’s Seung-Hi Park winning gold in the individual events. Russia added another gold medal in the team 5000m relay event, as the U.S. earned a silver.
Two gold medals were awarded in the short track event for both men and women in Sochi on Friday night. The men’s 5000m relay also finished up, while the qualifying for men’s and women’s team pursuit concluded ahead of the final events in that competition on Saturday.
Victor An won gold for Russia in the men’s 500m skate with a time of 41.312. China’s Daijing Wu (41.516) grabbed the silver and Charle Cournoyer of Canada (41.617) earned the bronze. An’s victory was his second gold and third overall medal of the Sochi Games after he won the men’s 1000m and took bronze in the 1500m event as well. It also gave Russia its eighth gold and 25th medal in Sochi.
Despite falling during his qualifying skate, USA’s J.R. Celski had just enough to make the finals in group B. He would finish sixth in the 500m final with a time of 41.786.
South Korea added two more medals in the ladies 500m skate final, as Seung-Hi Park won gold in a time of 1:30.761 and Suk Hee Shim (1:31.027) took the bronze. China’s Kexin Fan took home the silver in 1:30.811.
After qualifying for group A in the final, American Jessica Smith just missed out on the medal podium finishing fourth in a time of 1:31.301.
In the men’s 5000m relay final, Victor An earned another gold medal as part of Russia’s four-man relay team, which finished in 6:42.100, earning the Olympic record in the process. Team USA took home the silver in a time of 6:42.371 and China grabbed the bronze in 6:48.341. The silver that the U.S. won gave America its 27th medal in Sochi, which leads all other countries after Day 16.
After the semifinals in men’s team pursuit, the Netherlands, who finished in a time of 3:40.79, holds a slim lead over South Korea (3:42.32) and Canada (3:42.28), who won gold in Vancouver. Both the Netherlands and South Korea qualified for Final A, while Canada will be joined by Poland in Final B. Team USA (3:46.82) also qualified for Saturday’s final in group D with France. Russia and Norway will compete in Final C.
In the ladies event, team USA (3:02.21) and Canada (3:02.06) have already qualified for Final C, with Norway and South Korea in Final D. The leaders after the quarterfinal round, the Netherlands (2:58.61) and Russia (3:01.53), along with Japan and Poland, who both earned medals in Vancouver, will compete in the semifinal on Saturday to determine who will make groups A and B for Saturday’s final.
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