While the weekend of competition was marked by the last laps of Charles Hamelin's legendary career, Choi Min-jeong added to her own legend by winning her 4th overall world championship title this weekend at Maurice-Richard arena.
By Carl Savard
Photo by Tony Chung
Choi Min-jeong still dominant
After being postponed for a few weeks, the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Championships finally took place last weekend in Montreal. After a victory in the 1500m and a first place in the B final in the 500m on Saturday, Korean Choi Min-jeong won the 1000m and the 3000m super final on Sunday to claim her 4th overall World Championship title. With this fourth title, the 23-year-old athlete is now alone in third place for the most career titles among women behind China's Yang Yang (A), who was named champion six years in a row from 1997 to 2002, and Canada's Sylvie Daigle who won five titles between 1979 and 1990. Canada's Kim Boutin finished 2nd this weekend ahead of young Dutch star Xandra Velzeboer.
In the women's team relay, the race looked like it was going to end with the Canadians and the Dutch almost tied for the win, until Choi Min-jeong came from the outside to surprise everyone and finish ahead of Kim Boutin to give Korea the win. Canada won silver and the Netherlands bronze.
Shaoang defends his title in style
On the men's side, Liu Shaoang, who also won the title last year in the Netherlands, took home the top honors this year. The Hungarian won all the individual finals of these 2022 championships. Pascal Dion of Canada and Lee June-seo finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the overall ranking.
Curtain falls on Charles Hamelin's career
The home crowd was eagerly awaiting the men's 5000m relay as it would be the last chance to see Canada's Charles Hamelin on the ice. Hamelin had announced his retirement in 2018, but changed his mind as he felt he had what it took to complete another Olympic cycle. These four extra years ended up allowing him to win a 6th career Olympic medal. From the moment he stepped on the ice in the relay final, the crowd chanted his name. In the event that closed the weekend of competition, Hamelin helped Canada win the bronze medal, finishing behind the Koreans and the Dutch.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish Charles Hamelin the best of luck in his future endeavors and to thank him on behalf of the entire team at Passion/Patin/Vitesse for all these years of emotional and exciting highlights.
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