Toward the end of the race, Korea’s Mo Tae-Bum took the lead with a total time of 69.82 seconds. The result of his second run was 34.906. The gold medal became a birthday surprise for the athlete who turned 21 that day.
Japan’s Nagashima Keiichiro was not far behind with a total time of 69.98 seconds, just 0.16 seconds slower than Mo. The result of his second run was 34.876 seconds.
On the last run, Japan’s Kato Joji captured third place with 70.01 seconds.
The race lasted for nearly four hours after a 30-minute delay due to problems with the ice resurfacing machine.
Although Canadians hoped skater Jeremy Wotherspoon would bring Canada its second gold, he ended up in ninth place.
“I could’ve done better than I did,” Wotherspoon told CTV. However he conceded that the winning athletes had “solid” skills.
Asian countries have historically been winners in short track speed skating. Korea received a total of 10 medals at the Torino 2006 Winter Games.
Mo will also participate in the 1000 m speed skating on Feb. 17 and the 1500 m speed skating on Feb. 20.
