Winter Olympics: Schulting retains 1,000m short track title as Fontana crashes out
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Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands celebrates on the podium at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games on Feb 11, 2022.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
BEIJING (REUTERS) - Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands claimed her first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Friday (Feb 11) by retaining her short track speed skating 1,000m title in dominant fashion, while Arianna Fontana suffered heartbreak.
The 24-year-old, who was beaten by Italy's Fontana in the 500m earlier this week and crashed in the mixed team relay, led from start to finish to stay out of trouble.
After winning her quarter-final race in one minute 26.514 seconds to break the world record set by South Korean Shim Suk-hee in 2012 by 0.147 seconds, Schulting beat South Korea's Choi Min-jeong in a tight finish.
"South Korea is a powerhouse of short track, we feel a lot of pressure, so I'm very happy tonight," said Choi.
Belgian Hanne Desmet took third place after Fontana made contact with American Kristen Santos, with both skaters skidding out of contention.
Schulting's hopes of a clean sweep - a feat she achieved at the Covid 19-hit world championships last year - came to an end earlier this week when her fall eliminated the Netherlands from the mixed team relay, and she then had to settle for silver behind Fontana in the 500m.
In the 1,000m, however, Schulting is nearly unbeatable and she delivered at the Capital Indoor Stadium, racing like she usually does, taking a fast start and maintaining a lung-busting pace for her opponents.
She was already ahead of the pack when Fontana, who was hoping to become the only Italian Winter Olympian with 11 medals, lost her balance and made contact with Santos.
Both slipped into the safety pads, while Desmet just had to stay up on her skates to take an unexpected third place and become only the second Belgian woman to win a medal at a Winter Games after Micheline Lannoy won the figure skating pairs title with Pierre Baugniet in 1948.
"It's awesome. A bronze medal, any medal means a lot for Belgium at the Olympics," said Desmet.
Schulting's gold medal was the 50th for the Netherlands at the Winter Olympics, while Choi's silver was South Korea's 50th medal of any colour in Olympic short track speed skating.