Australia’s Tatiana Boroludina has finished third in the B Final of the women’s 1500 metre short track at the Pacific Coliseum.

Boroludina had been knocked out of contention for the final after finishing 4th in the semi-final, with winner of her race, Seung-Hi Park of Korea setting a new Olympic record.

The Pacific Coliseum was reverberating with noise all throughout the evening session as the sell out crowd witnessed Olympic class racing.

The 13.5 lap event is known for its thrills and spills and tonight was no different as countless competitors lost their feet and slid into the padded walls.

In the B Final neither of the four athletes were willing to break the race open across the first eight laps before the pace quickened and Italian Arianna Fontana crossed the line in 2:42.801, the Australian a quarter of a second further back.

Boroludina said shortly after her semi-final that she was disappointed to not make the medal race.

“It was pretty good but I’m still not happy as I was trying to make the A Final,” Borodulina said after her semi-final.

“I was trying to race near the front so one person could pass me and I could still get second.

“I have more confidence now so can look forward to the 1000m.”

In the A final, China’s world number one ranked skater, Yang Zhou smashed the Olympic record that had only just been set to win gold in a time of 2:16.993, with Korea taking the silver and bronze through Eun-Byul Lee and Seung-Hi Park.

Earlier in the night Boroludina’s heat was a tense affair as the Russian-born athlete chose to lead for the majority of the race. After not qualifying in her heat of the women’s 500m race earlier this week, Boroludina was skating with renewed confidence as she didn’t let the pushing behind affect her race.

With two laps remaining Arianna Fontana (Italy) took the lead to finish just clear of Boroludina (2:27.408), while Hungarian Erika Huszar sealed the final semi-final spot.

Boroludina will next race in the heats of the women’s 1000m on Day 13 (Wednesday 24 February).

David Polglase
AOC-Vancouver