China

Women's Speedskating: US Games Done, Korea Wins 3000m Relay

Top contenders in the event include Choi Min-jeong, of South Korea,and Kim Boutin, of Canada

American women's hopes of winning a medal in speedskating at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games are over after Jessica Kooreman and Lana Gehring failed to qualify in the 1000m short track event Tuesday.

Kooreman, of Melvindale, Mich., came in third place in her heat and Gehring, of Glenview, Ill., was hit with a penalty and disqualified from the competition at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Pyeongchang.

The top two contenders in each of the eight heats advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday. The finals will be held later the same day.  

Top contenders in the event include Choi Min-jeong, of South Korea, and Kim Boutin, of Canada. Both women finished first in their respective heats. Britain's Elise Christie fell in the first lap of her heat, but still finished in a qualifying spot before she was later disqualified. 

Park Seung-Hi of South Korea took gold in this event in Sochi four years ago, while her teammate Shim Suk Hee took bronze. Fan Kexin of China took silver. 

Tuesday also saw a wild, penalty-filled finish in the women's 3,000-meter short-track relay final, with South Korea taking gold.

Italy took silver and the Netherlands, which won the B final in world-record time, earned bronze after being elevated to the podium due to penalties to China and Canada. Italy was moved from bronze to silver.

Canada and Italy's skaters waited anxiously for the referees to sort out the chaos at the end of the race. The Italians celebrated their surprise medal.

In the closing laps, a Korean skater fell and brought down a Canadian skater. Italy also fell late in the 27-lap race.

Korea came into the final ranked first in the world with China ranked second.

The Dutch won the B final in 4 minutes, 3.471 seconds, lowering the mark of 4:04.222 set by Korea in November 2016 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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