A look back at Universiade 2019 : Aurélie Monvoisin gets three medals for France

Many elite short track speed skaters from all over the world were in action this week at the 2019 Universiade and France's Aurélie Monvoisin offered great performances.

By Carl Savard

Photos: @auremonv

Krasnoyarsk, Russia is presently hosting the 2019 Universiade. Although the event will end on March 12, the short track speed skating competition is now over. Despite being known as a powerhouse of the sport, Canada didn't send any athlete to this major competition.  

Three individual medals for Aurélie Monvoisin

The French athlete had to battle against fierce competitors this week. Big names such as Korea's Kim A Lang and Russia's Sofia Prosvirnova and Ekaterina Efremenkova were also in action in Krasnoyarsk. With the competition being held at home, Prosvirnova and Efrememkova had more pressure on their shoulders. By looking at the results, it's pretty clear that Monvoisin was not intimidated. The 21-year-old athlete left the competition after winning a gold medal on 500m and silver medals on 1500m and 1000m.

Korea's Kim A Lang also had a good week winning gold on 1500m and 1000m while Russia's Ekaterina Efremenkova won two bronze medals and a silver.

In the 3000m relay event, Russian fans had reasons to celebrate as their favorite team won the gold finishing ahead of Japan and Kazakhstan.

Some surprises on the men's side

While Koreans are known to be a dominant force on 1500m, it's in the 1000m that three of them gathered on the podium at the 2019 Universiade. Hong Kyung Hwan won the gold while Lim Yong Jin won silver and Park Ji Won finished third winning the bronze medal. Ironically, no Korean climbed on the podium on 1500m. The distance was won by China's An Kai who was joined on the podium by Quentin Fercoq (silver) from France and Kiichi Shigehiro (bronze) from Japan. The victory on 500m will be added to the resume of Park Ji Won. His compatriot Lim Yong Jin goes home with the silver medal while Russia's Konstantin Ivliev won the bronze.

In the 5000m relay event, Korea finishes ahead of Russia and Kazakhstan in that order to win the gold medal.

Some of the athletes that battled on the ice this week in Russia are already back in action in Sofia, Bulgaria at the ISU World championships.

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