China wins first short track gold of the season at ISU World Cup in Montreal

BEIJING -- The Chinese short track speed skating team claimed its first gold medal of the new season as it won the mixed 2000m relay at the first stop of the ISU World Cup in Montreal on Saturday.

The Chinese team came from behind to win the mixed 2000m relay final in two minutes 40.683 seconds with good races from Gong Li, Zang Yize, Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang. Olympic champion Lin Xiaojun had been in the relay squad but was replaced by Liu Shaoang due to injuries at the beginning of the final. Shaoang outpaced South Korean skaters in the last three laps and secured the gold with a final sprint.

South Korea was second with 2:40.766, while Italy came third with 2:57.869.

China also made the final A of the men's 5000m relay but failed to advance in the women's 3000m relay.

In other races on Saturday, Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States finished first in the women's 1000m (1) with 1:31.288, while Park Ji-won of South Korea topped the men's 1000m (1) with a time of 1:24.903.

In the women's 1500m final, Belgium's Hanne Desmet, who earned the country's first-ever short track Olympic medal, a bronze, at the Beijing Winter Games, came first with a final-lap pass and grabbed the gold in 2:27.863. South Korea's Kim Gilli took silver, and American Corinne Stoddard settled for bronze.

South Korea's Hwang Dae-heon won the men's 1500m final with 2:23.666, beating Belgium's Stijn Desmet and Latvia's Reinis Berzins to second and third places respectively.

The World Cup in Montreal is the season opener of the ISU Short Track Speed Skating series and runs through Sunday.