Korea wins seven medals - Boutin's train keeps on rolling

In a day filled with penalties, injuries and shenanigans, some of the bests were still able to climb on the podium. Here are the results of this crazy day in Montreal.

By Jackob Savard

Photos by Martin Holtom and Speed Skating Canada, Greg Kolz

The 1000m (1), 1500m and mixed relay final rounds as well as the relay semifinals were raced on Saturday at the Maurice Richard arena.

Boutin and Hwang dominant on the first 1000m of the weekend 

The 1000m quarters started with a violent crash from Zhang Yuting which necessitated the medical team on the ice. Shione Kaminaga and Natalia Maliszewska were also penalized in the same race. Kim Boutin was clearly the strongest lady on the distance all day long. She won the gold with a solid A final performance. Korean Seo Whi Min and Chinese Fan Kexin completed the podium.  

A bit like Kim Boutin on the women’s side, Korean Hwang Dae Heon was dominant all day long on the men's side on 1000m and added another gold medal to his collection. The 1000m world record holder was chased by crowd favorite Steven Dubois and Han Tianyu but the Canadian and the Chinese had to settle for silver and bronze. Dubois said after his race: “I am really happy with the silver on what I consider to be my weaker distance. I think I know what was missing for me to get gold and I’ll work on that for the next races.”

Koreans at the top on 1500m

Just like the 1000m, the 1500m races were full of action. The ladies’ A final had to be restarted because of a hard crash from Han Yutong. On take two, Korean Kim Ji Yoo crossed the line in first place. She was followed by Italian Arianna Fontana who's back after a year off and Korean Noh Do Hee who completed the podium.

The men’s 1500m final also ended with two Koreans on the podium. Just like he did in the semifinal, Park Ji Won took control of the A final to claim the gold medal. Chinese skater An Kai got silver and Park’s teammate Lee June Seo got bronze after Russian Semen Elistratov, who would have been on the podium, was awarded a penalty.  

Chineses wins a fast mixed relay 

Team China won an all out 2000m mixed relay main final to collect gold on the distance. The Russians finished second and the Korean third. 

Team Canada on Day 2

Other than Kim Boutin and Steven Dubois’s medals, the best Canadian performances were offered by Claudia Gagnon and Maxime Laoun. Both in the repechage in the morning, they respectively managed to reach the 1500m and 1000m (1) A final. “The two first races of the day were very hard and I had to gave everything in the afternoon against skaters who had raced less than me today. I am proud of the 5th place and I now know what I’ll need to work on for the next World Cups.” said Laoun at the end of the day. The ladies’ relay team eliminated the Koreans in their semifinal and will be fighting for medals tomorrow in the A final. The day wasn’t as good for Charles Hamelin who crashed in his 1500m semi. 

For yesterday’s article, click HERE

For the detailed results, click HERE

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