Apolo ends South Korean short track meet on winning note

Apolo Anton Ohno claimed two gold medals at a World Cup short track speedskating meet Sunday to end his return to South Korea on a high note.

The American posted a time of 1 minute, 27.452 seconds in the 1,000 meters and 5:38.465 in the 3,000-meter final to rebound from a shaky start that saw him disqualified for impeding on the first and second days of competition.

China's Li Jiajun's came second in the 1,000 meter race with a time of 1:27.646, ahead of Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea with 1:27.833. Ahn, the top-ranked male skater, took silver in the 3,000 meters with 5:38.702, while compatriot Lee Ho-suk took bronze in 5:38.782.

In the women's event, world No. 1 Wang Meng of China claimed gold in the 1,000 meters with 1:35.295, followed by Korea's Byun Chun-sa in 1:35.449 and Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria with 1:35.650. Byun was luckier in the 3000 meters, snatching gold with a time of 6:09.377. Radanova came second with 6:09.395 and Tatiana Borodulina of Russia trailed in 6:12.241.

Ohno's victories were the only good news this meet for the U.S. team meet, which finished last in the men's 5000-meter relay final. South Korea continued its good form, winning the 5,000-meter relay in 6:47.235, while China took the women's 3,000-meter relay with a time of 4:15.883.

Ohno's performance Sunday was made more meaningful after a U.S. speedskating team official told The Associated Press after the meet that the skater had been suffering from an intestinal virus for the past couple of days, AP reports.

Ohno returned to his hotel room shortly after his last race Sunday and was connected to a IV saline drip, the team's press attache said on condition of anonymity. Ohno's next World Cup meet is Nov. 11-13 at Bormio, Italy.

A.M.

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