In a night of near misses for the Canadians, Lee Jung-Su of Korea had broken the Olympic record to take out the men’s 1000m short track speed skating crown.

Competition began with four quarterfinal races with a total of 16 skaters vying for a spot in the semifinals.

The pressure on the athletes was obvious as a series of tactical races played out seeing a number of racers slide out of contention into the padded walls.

In the first semi of the night, Korean teammates Jung-Su and Lee Ho-Suk cruised through to first and second position. On the final lap, Canadian Francois Hamelin was cut off by his American counterpart JR Celski, causing him crash out of the race.

After a tense pause for judgement, Celski was disqualified, ensuring a five-man final including Hamelin.

The second semifinal followed and was equally as tense.

Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States did not disappoint his fans, qualifying with the fastest time of 1:25.033. On the back of his blades was Canadian Charles Hamelin, booking his berth against his teammate and brother Francois.

When the five racers stepped out onto the rink for the big race of the night, the collective noise of the crowd was deafening.

The home-crowd roar was not enough to bring home the brothers in red, with the Korean racers and the formidable Ohno proving too strong.

Jung-Su took gold in a time of 1:23.747, his second for the Games having won the 1500m event earlier in the week.

"With the two Canadian brothers in the front, my strategy was just to advance," Jung-Su said.

"Once I advanced to the front, all I could think of was just staying there."

Ho-Suk took silver and Ohno rounded out the race with bronze.

Alice Wheeler
AOC - Vancouver