Elistratov narrowly edged out Dutchman Sjinkie Knegt, the 2015 European champion, who managed to put his right skate ahead of Canada's Charles Hamelin, the 1,500m Olympic champion, to earn the silver medal.

The defending world champion, Victor An of Russia, finished fifth, sandwiched between South Korea's Se Yeong Park in fourth and Daan Breeuwsma of The Netherlands in sixth.

In the women's equivalent event, Italy's Arianna Fontana reigned supreme having taken the lead with three laps to go in the event organised by the International Skating Union. 

South Korea's defending world champion Suk Hee Shim came second, followed by compatriot Minjeong Choi, winner of this season's 1,500m World Cup classification.

Another South Korean, Kim Alang, finished fourth to claim points in the race along with China's Jiaying Tao, Russia's Sofia Prosvirnova, Canada's Kim Boutin and Japan's Moemi Kikuchi, who took fifth place through to eighth respectively.

China were the dominant force in the 500m discipline with Kexin Fan leading from start to finish in the women's competition, ahead of Great Britain's Elise Christie and Italy's Fontana, and Dajing Wu prevailing on the men's side, in front of Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu and fellow countryman Tianyu Han.

Italy's Arianna Fontana held off a strong challenge from South Korea to win the women's 1,500m event at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships ©Getty Images




Christie's silver medal came as welcome news for her having missed out on a place in the 1,500m final after losing an edge with two laps to go in the semi-final.

"I was disappointed but it's just one of those things unfortunately and there was nothing I could do about it," said Christie, whose preparations had been hit by the death of her grandmother. 

"That, combined with a difficult few weeks in my personal life, meant that my head was all over the place going into the 500m finals.

"I knew that it was a totally different race though and I still had a chance to medal so I was ready for it.

"I finished top in both my quarter and semi-finals but found the final a bit more challenging.

"Under the circumstances, I'm really pleased with silver, but I believe that I could have got more out of it if my head was in a different place."

Elistratov heads the men's overall Championship classification with 36 points ahead of Wu on 24 and Knegt on 29, while Fontana leads the women's classification with 47 points, followed by Fan on 32 points and three skaters tied on 21 points - Choi, Shim and Christie.

The Championships are due conclude tomorrow with men's and women's 1,000m event, the 3,000m super final and the relay finals.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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