SHORT TRACK: Seventeen-year old short track speed skater, Deanna Lockett, has finished a career-best fifth in the final of the 1500 metres in the World Cup event in Nagoya, Japan.

The Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder finished third in both her heats, before taking second place in the semi and moving through to the final.

Competing against three Koreans, a Hungarian and a Chinese skater in the final, Lockett skated well to finish just 0.7 of a second behind winner, Suk Hee Shim, from Korea.

It was the Queenslander's best result in a World Cup event to date.

Just last month Lockett was again Australia's best performer at round two of the ISU World Cup in Montreal, Canada where she finished 11th in the 1500 metre event, and 13th in the 1000 metres.

At the time team coach Ann Zhang exclaimed “Deanna is getting stronger and stronger and this was her best race day in her skating career.”

Lockett set a new 1500 metre personal best of 2:23.036 in the process.

The teenager is now ranked 13th in the World Cup standings with the next round scheduled for Shanghai, China (7-9 December, 2012).

Her performances are promising with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games just over a year away.

Taya Conomos (olympics.com.au) and OWI