Canada's Steven Dubois skated to his first individual Olympic gold medal in the men's 500 meter short track final, stopping the clock in 40.835 seconds on Wednesday at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The 28-year-old was joined on the podium by Dutch brothers Melle van 't Wout (40.912) with silver and Jens van 't Wout (41.908) with bronze.

China's title hopes were dashed earlier in the day when Liu Shaoang, after confidently advancing from the quarterfinals, crashed out on the last lap of his semifinal race to miss out on a spot in Final A. He regrouped to win Final B in 41.525, leaving him in sixth place overall. Compatriot Lin Xiaojun reached the quarterfinals as well, but finished fourth in his heat and was eliminated.

Liu spoke somberly on behalf of a team feeling the sting of lost opportunity: "We actually wanted to bring everyone a good result for the Spring Festival, but the Chinese short track team couldn't get gold. It's a bit hard to accept. Quite regrettable. I hope people understand that we gave it our all."

With the men's 5,000 meter relay squad finishing third in its semifinal heat and failing to reach Final A, the Chinese men's short track campaign effectively came to an end in Italy. Sun Long's silver in the men's 1,000 meters remains the nation's only medal in the discipline at this edition of the Games with two events remaining – the women's 1,000 meters and men's 5,000 meter relay.