China wins men's 5,000m relay at Four Continents Short Track Championships

WASHINGTON -- Chinese men's team claimed the 5,000m relay title at the Four Continents Short Track Championships held in Salt Lake City on Saturday.

The team of Li Kun, Liu Guanyi, Song Jiahua and Zhong Yuchen, who finished second in heat 1 of the semifinals, won the final with a dominant six minutes and 54.766 seconds, followed by Japan with 1.305 seconds adrift.

The South Korean team finished third in 7:12.956.

In the mixed team relay, the Chinese team of Gong Li, Wang Xinran, Li and Zhong took the silver medal in 2:38.244 after leading but being overtaken by the United States with six laps to go.

The US won the title in 2:38.095 while Canada placed third in 2:46.024.

South Korea finished first in the women's 3,000m relay with a time of 4:04.767, ahead of Canada and the American team.

In the individual races, China's youngster Gong took the women's 1,000m silver in 1:28.840, Courtney Sarault of Canada clinched the gold in 1:28.615 while her compatriot Claudia Gagnon took the bronze in 1:28.963.

Park Ji-won of South Korea claimed the gold in the men's 1,000m event in 1:27.548, followed by the Canadian pair of Pascal Dion and William Dandjinou.

The next tournament for China is the World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan in December.