Speed skating at the 2007 Asian Winter Games

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Speed skating featured as part of the 2007 Asian Winter Games in the newly constructed Jilin Provincial Speed Skating Rink in Changchun. Ten medal events were contested, with the men's 10,000 metres, a part of the Games since 1986, replaced by 100 metres for both genders. Events were held from 29 January to 1 February.

China won the most gold medals, taking five of the ten on offer, by sweeping the women's events. Wang Fei won two gold medals and one silver medal in the three longest distances, while Wang Beixing two gold medals and a silver medal in the three shortest. Japan won the shortest and the longest distance for men, through Yuya Oikawa and Hiroki Hirako, while Lee Kyu-Hyuk and Lee Kang-Seok of South Korea won the three middle distances.

Contents 1 Medal table 2 Men's events 2.1 100 metres 2.2 500 metres 2.3 1000 metres 2.4 1500 metres 2.5 5000 metres 3 Women's events 3.1 100 metres 3.2 500 metres 3.3 1000 metres 3.4 1500 metres 3.5 3000 metres 4 References

[edit] Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	5	4	3	12
2	South Korea	3	5	4	10
3	Japan	2	1	2	5
4	Kazakhstan	0	0	1	1

[edit] Men's events

[edit] 100 metres

Preliminaries

Vladimir Sherstyuk of Kazakhstan, with a time of 10.16, and the two Mongolian participants, Bazarsad Batsuuri and Enkhbold Oyundorj were eliminated. The remaining nine proceeded to the semi-finals. Lee Kang-Seok skated the fastest time, with 9.64, ahead of the season's 100 metre World Cup winner, Yuya Oikawa, with 9.71.

Semi-finals

Four skaters were in a class of their own, with times between 9.66 and 9.68; An Weijiang was knocked out despite having the joint third-fastest time, finishing 0.02 seconds behind Oikawa. Yu and Lee joined Oikawa in the final, skating 9.68 and 9.67 respectively.

Final

Oikawa set the fastest time in Changchun by some distance, 0.07 seconds faster than any other races. Lee skated another sub-9.70 race, but was pipped to the silver by 0.01 seconds.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
A Final
	Yuya Oikawa	JPN	9.59
	Yu Fengtong	CHN	9.68		+0.09
	Lee Kang-Seok	KOR	9.69		+0.10
B Final
4	Zhang Zhongqi	CHN	9.82
5	An Weijiang	CHN	9.84		+0.02
6	Jiao Yunlong	CHN	9.99		+0.17

[edit] 500 metres

In the first race, Keiichiro Nagashima - runner-up in the World Cup thus far and the highest-ranked Asian - eliminated himself from contention by finishing in the tenth-fastest time, 0.6 seconds behind winner Lee Kang-Seok, ranked third in the World Cup and the 2007 South Korean champion. Lee Kyu-Hyuk, the defending World Sprint champion and World Cup No. 4 (with two race wins to Kang-Seok's one and Nagashima's four), had not yet won a medal in three starts in this distance at the Asian Winter Games, but finished 0.08 seconds behind in silver position. World record holder Joji Kato, ranked as No. 8 in the World Cup, finished third, a quarter of a second behind.

Kato was unable to repeat that performance in the second race, finishing three tenths of a second worse; thus Yuya Oikawa and An Weijiang had the chance to catch the bronze medal by producing performances similar to their first run. Oikawa was paired with Lee Kyu-Hyuk, who defeated him despite skating the opening 100 metres almost three tenths of a second slower. Regardless, Kyu-Hyuk, who started from the inner lane, skated 0.12 seconds worse than in the first run, leaving Kang-Seok to skate 35.38 to win. This he managed with ease, while pairmate An finished in the sixth-best time of the second run to finish fifth. Yu Fengtong, ranked fourth among Asians in the World Cup, finished seventh, and Nagashima ninth.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Run 1	Rk		Run 2	Rk		Total	Gap
	Lee Kang-Seok	KOR	35.11	1	CR	35.19	1		70.30
	Lee Kyu-Hyuk	KOR	35.19	2		35.31	2		70.50	+0.20
	Yuya Oikawa	JPN	35.52	5		35.36	3		70.88	+0.58
4	Joji Kato	JPN	35.36	3		35.64	8		71.00	+0.70
5	An Weijiang	CHN	35.49	4		35.58	7		71.08	+0.78
6	Lee Ki-Ho	KOR	35.62	9		35.49	4		71.11	+0.81

[edit] 1000 metres

The championship record was bettered already in the fourth pair, by Yu Fengtong, who was not among the top 15 in the World Cup standings. Nevertheless, Yu skated the final lap three seconds slower than the first. Lee Kyu-Hyuk, world No. 2, was quicker over the first 600, but a last lap of 27.60 seconds gained him almost 1.5 seconds on Yu. Lee's pairmate, Choi Jae-Bong, who finished over a second behind, but was still second before the final three pairs.

In the eighth pair, Mun Joon was behind Takaharu Nakajima by a few hundredths of a second, but recovered on the final lap as the Japanese fell back into fourth place, also behind Choi. Three Koreans now topped the standings, and with Japanese sprinters Nagashima and Shimizu unable to skate the final lap below 29 seconds, and China's Gao Xuefeng trailing by 1.6 seconds after 600 metres, they remained on top at the end.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Lee Kyu-Hyuk	KOR	1:09.86	CR	0.00
	Moon Jun	KOR	1:10.45		+ 0.59
	Choi Jae-Bong	KOR	1:10.92		+ 1.06
4	Takaharu Nakajima	JPN	1:11.35		+ 1.49
5	Yu Fengtong	CHN	1:11.53		+ 1.67
6	Gao Xuefeng	CHN	1:11.86		+ 2.00
6	Lee Jong-Woo	KOR	1:11.86		+ 2.00

[edit] 1500 metres

Mun Joon was the highest ranked Asian in the World Cup standings, placing seventh despite not taking part in the Moscow race, after having recorded fourth place in Berlin. However, Lee Kyu-Hyuk, a former 1500 metre world record holder, had not started in any of the 1500 metre races this season. In the fifth of eight pairs, Gao Xuefeng, who won bronze on this distance at the Asian Single Distance Championships, set a time of 1:49.24 which would prove tricky to beat. Lee Kyu-Hyuk lost 0.9 seconds on the final lap, but stayed ahead due to a good start, thus securing Korean gold as the final pair was between Choi Jae-Bong and Mun Joon. But Mun, despite skating the first 700 metres quicker than Lee, had to be content with bronze; Choi came closer on the third lap, but with last outer lane he fell 0.4 seconds behind. Lee won his first Asian Games gold, with his best distance 1000 metres remaining the following day.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Lee Kyu-Hyuk	KOR	1:49.13	CR	0.00
	Gao Xuefeng	CHN	1:49.24		+ 0.11
	Moon Jun	KOR	1:49.79		+ 0.66
4	Choi Jae-Bong	KOR	1:50.21		+ 1.08
5	Takaharu Nakajima	JPN	1:52.20		+ 3.07
6	Vladimir Kostin	KAZ	1:53.08		+ 3.95

[edit] 5000 metres

The opening men's speed skating event was won by Hiroki Hirako, fourth-placed in the 2003 Games, who beat Asian record holder Dmitry Babenko by four seconds in the final pair. Hirako was the only skater to remain below 33 seconds on all laps; after 1800 metres he was as far down as sixth in the rankings.^[1]

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Hiroki Hirako	JPN	6:39.71	CR	0.00
	Yeo Sang-Yeop	KOR	6:43.34		+ 3.63
	Dmitry Babenko	KAZ	6:43.40		+ 3.69
4	Choi Kwun-Won	KOR	6:43.86		+ 4.15
5	Gao Xuefeng	CHN	6:44.13		+ 4.52
6	Song Xingyu	CHN	6:47.37		+ 7.76

[edit] Women's events

[edit] 100 metres

Preliminaries

Xing Aihua, winner of the 100 metres at the World Cup meet in Harbin with a world record time of 10.31, was beaten by Wang Beixing in the preliminaries, skating 10.41. Lee Sang-Hwa with a second and third place thus far in the World Cup, placed fourth, while two Koreans, Oh Min-Ji and Lee Bo-Ra were eliminated.

Semi-finals

The first semi-final was an entirely Chinese affair, with Wang skating 10.39 to easily beat Zhang Shuang and Ren Hui. In the second semi-final, Xing only had 0.06 seconds on Shihomi Shinya, and Sayuri Osuga finished 0.05 seconds behind Lee Sang-Hwa in the third semi-final. All winning times were within 0.02 seconds of each other.

Final

Xing became the first Asian Games gold medallist, while Wang skated her poorest race of the competition to take silver.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
A Final
	Xing Aihua	CHN	10.41
	Wang Beixing	CHN	10.44		+0.03
	Lee Sang-Hwa	KOR	10.59		+0.15
B Final
4	Shihomi Shinya	JPN	10.56
5	Sayuri Osuga	JPN	10.70		+0.14
6	Zhang Shuang	CHN	10.74		+0.18

[edit] 500 metres

Before the race, 17-year-old Lee Sang-Hwa was the favourite; she had only been defeated by an Asian skater once in eight starts on the World Cup circuit, by 21-year-old Wang Beixing, who won the second race in Heerenveen. Wang was ranked third in the World Cup, having placed third on five of her six starts, while Xing Aihua had five fourth-places, and Sayuri Osuga and Ren Hui were also ranked in the top six.

However, Wang, skating in the sixth of eight pairs in the first run, took the lead over Ren by nearly nine tenths of a second: her time of 38.02 had only been beaten twice in the World Cup circuit that season, and only once by an Asian, with Lee Sang-Hwa's 38.01 her seasonal best. No one came close in the following pairs – not even Japanese skaters Shinya and Osuga, who skated more than half a second worse than in the 2007 World Sprint Championships, while Lee finished half a second behind Wang in second place. Xing skated 39.54, enough for seventh place, and didn't start in the second run; Ren was sixth with 38.90, while Zhang Shuang, ranked 20 in the World Cup but with fifth place from her first start in Harbin, placed fifth with 38.83

The two met in the final pair of the second run, with Wang now having last inner; after skating roughly level during the first 100 metres, Wang won by three tenths of a second in goal. In the penultimate pair, Yoshii faced Osuga, but neither skater could beat the aggregate time set by Zhang, who thus clinched bronze in her first start at the Asian Games.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Run 1	Rk		Run 2	Rk		Total	Gap
	Wang Beixing	CHN	38.02	1	CR	38.08	1		76.10
	Lee Sang-Hwa	KOR	38.53	2		38.42	2		76.95	+0.85
	Zhang Shuang	CHN	38.83	5		38.76	3		77.59	+1.49
4	Shihomi Shinya	JPN	38.71	3		38.92	5		77.63	+1.53
5	Sayuri Osuga	JPN	38.82	4		38.85	4		77.67	+1.57
6	Ren Hui	CHN	38.53	2		39.04	6		77.94	+1.84

[edit] 1000 metres

After the Asian leg of the World Cup had been completed, six Asians were in the top 15; Lee Sang-Hwa was highest ranked, with sixth, one point ahead of Nao Kodaira, and six points ahead of Wang Beixing who had skipped the Nagano races and had finished ahead of the two aforementioned on four of five occasions. Sayuri Yoshii was 11th, but had been the best Asian in the final Nagano race with fourth, and Wang Fei had finished fourth in a race in Harbin.

The first pair to post impressive times was the seventh; Wang Beixing lowered the leading time of Maki Tabata by almost three seconds, beating the championship record in the process. Two-time gold medallist Wang Fei came in the next pair, but lost more than a second in the opening 200 metres, and despite a strong finish she finished 0.19 seconds behind Wang Beixing. In the ninth pair, Lee Sang-Hwa opened slowly and never recovered, finishing in a time above 1:19 to place fourth thus far. Three Chinese skaters stood on top of the rankings, and 16-year-old Kim You-Lim in the final pair could not do anything with it, opening a quarter of a second slower than Ren Hui and finishing one eighth of a second behind.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Wang Beixing	CHN	1:17.35	CR	0.00
	Wang Fei	CHN	1:17.54		+ 0.19
	Ren Hui	CHN	1:18.84		+ 1.49
4	Kim You-Lim	KOR	1:18.96		+ 1.61
5	Lee Sang-Hwa	KOR	1:19.24		+ 1.89
6	Tomomi Okazaki	JPN	1:19.47		+ 2.12

[edit] 1500 metres

Two Asians were among the top 12 in the World Cup rankings, with Maki Tabata eighth and Wang Fei 12th; however, Wang had beaten Tabata in the first two races, before choosing not to compete in the Moscow event. The two faced off in the final pair, chasing the leading time of 2:01.60 set by Korean Lee Ju-Youn. Both opened quicker than Lee, leading by a second after 700 metres, but Tabata was eventually disqualified and in any case skated a too poor final lap to take a medal. Wang held her lead all the way to the finish, however, taking her second gold medal of the Games. The bronze medal went to Ji Jia, her first Asian 1500 metre medal, after winning bronze on the 5000 metres in the Asian Single Distance Championships in 2005.

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Wang Fei	CHN	2:00.49	CR	0.00
	Lee Ju-Youn	KOR	2:01.60		+1.19
	Ji Jia	CHN	2:01.82		+1.41
4	Noh Seon-Yeong	KOR	2:02.80		+2.39
5	Masako Hozumi	JPN	2:02.94		+2.53
6	Eriko Ishino	JPN	2:03.07		+2.66

[edit] 3000 metres

China's first gold in speed skating this year was won by Wang Fei, who aged 18 had placed fourth in the 2003 Games. Now, she beat defending champion Maki Tabata, and also skated two seconds below the Asian Games record from 2003.^[2]

Pos.	Athlete	Nation	Time		Gap
	Wang Fei	CHN	4:13.08	CR	0.00
	Masako Hozumi	JPN	4:15.42		+ 3.63
	Maki Tabata	JPN	4:17.00		+ 3.69
4	Lee Ju-Youn	KOR	4:18.05		+ 4.97
5	Noh Seon-Yeong	KOR	4:18.57		+ 5.49
6	Eriko Ishino	JPN	4:19.02		+ 5.94

[edit] References

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