Crashes and controversy as Korea is knocked out of two short track events

Olympic Sports

Published: 07 Feb. 2022, 23:27 Updated: 08 Feb. 2022, 00:16

Crashes and controversy as Korea is knocked out of two short track events

Hwang Dae-heon, center, competes in the men's 1000-meter semifinal at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday. [YONHAP]

It was a dark night on the ice for Korea at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday, as four strong medal contenders in short track speed skating were knocked out of contention with a crash, an injury and two controversial penalties.

Choi Min-jeong was the first to fall, crashing out of the women’s 500-meter short track quarterfinal. With two laps left to go, Choi tripped on the ice and crossed the finish line in fourth place with a time of 1:04.939.

Choi Min-jeong falls during the women's 500-meter quarterfinals at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Korea’s misfortunes did not stop here. With short track events typically rotating back and forth between two different competitions throughout the night, the first round of the women's 500 meters was followed by the first round of the men's 1000 meters.

Three Koreans were racing in the event, with Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo both advancing to the semifinals.

Park Jang-hyuk, the third Korean in the quarterfinals, was looking comfortable in second place when, with three laps left to go, Pietro Sighel of Italy crashed into him while trying to overtake. The crash left Park spinning off across the ice where Wu Dajing of China appeared to skate into his hand.

Park clutched his wrist after the collision and was taken off the ice on a stretcher. As of press time it is unclear how bad the injury is, although there did appear to be blood when medics arrived on the scene. Despite advancing to the semifinals, Park had to pull out of the competition.

Park Jang-hyuk, left, collides with Wu Dajing of China during the men's 1,000-meter quarterfinal at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Hwang and Lee were then both disqualified during the semifinals.

Hwang crossed the finish line first in his heat but was disqualified for making an illegal late passing that caused contact, taking the world record holder out of the Games.

Lee finished his race in second, but, after a lengthy video review, was disqualified for a lane change that caused contact with Liu Shaoang of Hungary.

Both penalties were hugely controversial, with Hwang in particular being penalized for an infraction despite also appearing to have been pushed by a Chinese skater during the race.

The two penalties also both opened up spots in the final for Chinese skaters, repeating the story of the mixed team relay on Saturday. During that event, the United States and Russia were both disqualified from a semifinal, allowing the Chinese team to advance and ultimately win gold.

After the men's semifinal on Monday, Park was sent to hospital while Hwang and Lee reportedly left the stadium without answering questions from the media.

Korea will have to find a way to overcome a chaotic evening on the ice and get back on track, with short track races resuming Wednesday with the men’s 1500 meters, women’s 1000 meters and women’s 3000-meter relay.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]