Seoul / Korea

The Netherlands were disappointed an aggressive approach could not yield a second relay gold at the Audi ISU World Cup Short Track in Seoul on Sunday.

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Korea crossed the 5000m line first without the services of wunderkind Hwang Dae Heon, while the USA followed up their world-record feat last week in Shanghai with bronze.

The ladies of the Netherlands won their relay minutes prior to the men’s final and the men came out looking like they wanted a repeat. They grabbed the lead with 12 laps to go but it seemingly woke the Koreans up.

“We were just skating our own race,” said Dutch star Sjinkie Knegt. “Our goal was to keep the speed high. The Koreans tried to slow down a little but we kept the speed high.

“This feels pretty good after the shitty week in China with the relay team skating like this.”

But the 2015 world champion did not mince his words.

“I think with this team we have to do well.

“To do it in Korea is super nice but we have to do better and we know that.

“We should be better than second position but next time we’ll do better.”

The USA’s Thomas Insuk Hong said winning back-to-back relay medals “means a lot”.

“It just shows we’re on the right path going into the Games and hopefully we can keep this wave going and medal at the Games,” he added.

The 20-year-old also happens to be born in Korea.

He said, “It was a really good feeling. The crowd was deafening honestly. It definitely helped us do better. We fed off the crowd’s energy.”

World cup leaders Canada did not make it past the heats but did enough at the first three stops to remain at the top.

Japan won the B final.

The confirmed list of quota places for the PyeongChang Olympics will be announced by the ISU.

Full entry lists and results of the Audi ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating are available here. Follow the discussion on social media by using #WCShortTrack #ShortTrackSkating.