China's Sun wins 500m gold at short track speed skating Milano 2026 test event

MILAN - Chinese skater Sun Long claimed the gold medal in the men's 500 meters with a time of 40.777 seconds at the 2024-2025 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Tour Milan leg on Saturday, while the Chinese women's team secured a bronze medal in the 3000m relay race.

Serving as a test event for the upcoming Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, the competition in Milan has been highly valued by all participating teams. In the absence of Lin Xiaojun, who had won the 500m gold and 1,500m silver at the Winter Asian Games in Harbin before withdrawing from the rest events of the season due to injury, the Chinese team has fielded nearly all of its top skaters in Milan.

In the men's 500m final, Sun took the lead early and maintained his position to cross the finish line first. Dutch skater Teun Boer won the silver ahead of local favorite Pietro Sighel of Italy, who came in third.

The men's 1,500m final saw Dutch skater Jens Van'T Wout execute a well-timed strategy, surging ahead in the final laps to land the victory. Japan's Hayashi Kosei finished second, followed by South Korea's Jang Sung-woo in third.

Following their dominating performance at the recent Asian Winter Games, the South Korean skaters struggled in Milan with Jang's bronze in the 1,500m being their only podium finish of the day. The team cited fatigue and limited recovery time as key factors affecting their results.

The women's 1,000m final was dominated by Team USA as Kristen Santos-Griswold and Corinne Stoddard secured a one-two finish. Italy's Elisa Confortola overcame a fall during the race and fought back to claim the bronze.

In the women's 3,000m relay final, the Dutch team showcased solid teamwork to take gold, narrowly defeating Italy, who settled for the second place. The Chinese quartet of Fan Kexin, Wang Xinran, Zang Yize and Zhang Chutong finished third.