Speed skating: China's Wu, Fan win silvers at dramatic finals
CGTN
["china"]
China's Olympic gold medalist Wu Dajing and world champion Fan Kexin won the men's and the women's 500m silvers respectively after dramatic finals on Saturday at 2019 Short Track Speed Skating World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The men's 500m final A restarted three times due to false starts and a crash. Hungarian Olympic winner Liu Shaolin was fouled out as the second skater to false start, and then Wu Dajing and Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea had a severe crash and both tumbled on the rink to force a third restart.
In the end, Hwang Dae-heon won the gold medal with a time of 42.490 seconds. 
Hwang Dae-heon celebrates winning the men 500 meter final A of the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, on March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

Hwang Dae-heon celebrates winning the men 500 meter final A of the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, on March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

Wu, who refreshed the world record by clocking 39.505 this season, suffered from physical exhaustion and finished second in 42.725. 
Wu's teammate Ren Ziwei got the bronze in 42.888.
The drama also took place in the women's 500m race final A, which witnessed Chinese world champion Fan Kexin initially ranking third in 43.427 seconds, trailing behind Martina Valcepina of Italy and Dutch skater Lara Van Ruijven. 
However, Valcepina was given a penalty due to a foul right before the finish line to send Fan to the second place and Ruijven, who finished in 43.267, to win the championship.
The Netherlands, Russia, South Korea and Canada powered into the women's 3,000m relay final A, while Russia, South Korea, China and Hungary will meet up in the men's 5,000m relay final A.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency