Lucky Li claims crash-marred final

China's Li Jianrou avoided a three-skater crash to clinch China's first gold medal in 'miraculous' fashion at the Sochi Winter Games in the women's 500m short track speed skating final on Thursday.

"I was very calm in the final as, for a middle and long distance racer like me, reaching the 500m final was a very good thing," Li, 27, said after the victory.

"I knew a miracle really happened to me. But there are no miracles without hard work."