SHORT TRACK: Australia was represented by two young, talented athletes in the Sochi 2014 Short Track Speed Skating competition in Deanna Lockett and Pierre Boda.

Lockett, who at 18 was the youngest on the Australian Team, grabbed a top-10 finish when she placed ninth in the 1000m event. Though not her preferred distance, Lockett was strong in both her heat and quarter-final and was edged out by a fraction of a second to miss making the semi. Lockett also finished 26th in the 1500m. 

Boda contested the fastest event in the program, the men’s 500m. Boda put together a solid race but just wasn’t quite able to be in the first two over the line, finishing 30th overall.

Russia’s Victor An was the eventual winner of the 500m. The 28-year-old won four medals at the Torino 2006 Olympics whilst competing for his birth country of Korea. A move to Russia saw him compete for the host nation at the Sochi Games, giving Russia their first Short Track medals. 

He also took gold in the 1000m, edging out his teammate Vladimir Grigorev who took silver. Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands took bronze.

An’s third individual medal was in the men’s 1500m where he won bronze. Canadian skater Charles Hamelin won his third Olympic gold medal after leading for 10 of the 14 laps and finishing in 2:14.985. China’s Han Tianyu won China’s first medal of the Sochi Games when he took silver.

The final men’s event and the final event of the program was the chaotic 5000m Relay. The Russians brought the house down finishing in a new Olympic Record time of 6:42.100 giving An his fourth medal of the Games, and eighth of his career. They won just ahead of the USA, and China fought back after a crash in the opening seconds to win bronze.

In the women’s events, China’s Li Jianrou took gold in the first final, the 500m. Li avoided a crash which took out the three other skaters who all got back on their feet to finish the race for medals. Referees determined that Elise Christie of Great Britain caused the crash and she was disqualified shortly after the race concluded. As a result, Vancouver 2010 bronze medallist Arianna Fontana of Italy won the silver and Park Seung-Hi of Korea finished third for bronze.

Park would win two more medals at the Games – both gold. The 21-year-old won the 1000m in an exciting tussle with her compatriot Shim Suk-Hee and China’s Fan Kexin who would take bronze and silver respectively.

Shim and Park also joined with Kim Alang and Cho Ha-Ri in the women’s 3000m relay. Four years ago, at the Vancouver 2010 Games, Korea crossed the line first but was penalised for illegal contact and had to watch its rival China pick up the gold medal. This time, it was the Chinese team that was disqualified for impeding while Korea took home the gold.

Minutes after Shim made an outside pass on Li of China on the final lap to cross the finish line first, referees handed down the penalty. Canada was promoted to second and Italy took the bronze medal position.

Shim also took home a silver medal, finishing just behind China’s Zhou Yang in the 1500m. Fontana also picked up another medal, taking bronze.