There’s no doubt that the thin air at the high-altitude Utah Olympic Oval is conducive to record performances and China’s Olympic Champion in the 500 m, Dajing Wu, took advantage.
Already the world-record holder at 39.584 from the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang (KOR) earlier this year – one of two he set at the Games – he shattered the mark in the final of the ISU Short Track World Cup with a 39.505 clocking.
Actually, he had very little choice except the break the record!
After winning his semifinal easily in 39.944, he faced an excellent field in the final and was chased home by Korea’s Hyo-Jun Lim (39.670) and Hungarian star Shaoang Liu (39.699), who moved to nos. 2-3 on the all-time list. Lim was the PyeongChang bronze medalist in (39.919) and Liu became only the fourth skater to break 40.000 in history, along with American J.R. Celski and PyeongChang silver winner Dae-Heon Wang (KOR).
Wu has now won all three World Cup 500 m events this season, but has to share that honor with Dutch star Suzanne Schulting, also a PyeongChang gold medalist. Schulting won two events last week in the Calgary season opener and took the 1,000 m in Salt Lake City, and also won a silver in the 500 m.
The other repeat winner from Calgary was Pole Natalia Maliszewska in the women’s 500 m. Summaries:
ISU Short Track World Cup
Salt Lake City (USA) ~ 9-11 November 2018
(Full results here)
Men
500 m: 1. Dajing Wu (CHN), 39.505 (World Record; old, 39.584, Wu, 2018); 2. Hyo-Jun Lim (KOR), 39.670; 3. Shaoang Liu (HUN), 39.699.
1,000 m I: 1. Shaolin Sandor Liu (HUN) 1:24.571; 2. Ziwei Ren (CHN), 1:24.612; 3. Ji Won Park (KOR), 1:24.705.
1,000 m II: 1. Kyung-Hwan Hong (KOR), 1:23.872; 2. Thibaut Fauconnet (FRA), 1:24.009; 3. Denis Ayrapetyan (RUS), 1:24.803. Also: 5. Aaron Tran (USA), 1:24.284.
1,500 m: 1. Sjinkie Knegt (NED), 2:13.113; 2. June Seo Lee (KOR), 2:13.214; 3. Steven Dubois (CAN), 2:13.424.
5,000 m Relay: 1. Hungary (Burjan, S. Liu, S.S. Liu, Varnyu), 6:50.441; 2. China, 6:50.485; 3. Russia, 6:51.112.
Women
500 m: 1. Natalia Maliszewska (POL), 42.677; 2. Suzanne Schulting (NED), 42.697; 3. Kexin Fan (CHN), 42.767.
1,000 m I: 1. Schulting (NED), 1:28.436; 2. Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS), 1:28.509; 3. Fan (CHN), 1:28.769.
1,000 m II: 1. Alyson Charles (CAN), 1:31.234; 2. Anna Seidel (ER), 1:31.237; 3. Ah Rum Noh (KOR), 1:31.349.
1,500 m: 1. Min Jeong Choi (KOR), 2:20.859; 2. Ji Yoo Kim (KOR), 2:21.112; 3. Xuan Li (CHN), 2:21.277.
3,000 m Relay: 1. Korea (J. Choi, M. Choi, J. Kim, A. Noh), 4:06.852; 2. Russia, 4:06.996; 3. Japan, 4:08.016.
