Budapest / Hungary

 

The BOK Hall in Budapest erupted as home hope Shaolin Sandor Liu (HUN) claimed gold in the men's 500m Final A on Saturday afternoon.

Hungarian Short Track skating's poster boy came back from a penalty disappointment in the 1500m final, finishing ahead of Korean duo Lim Hyo Jun and Hwang Dae Heon.

Grandmothers, aunties and other family members from both parents' sides had come to the arena in Budapest to cheer for Liu and he said the support in the hall helped him recover from Saturday's other final.

"It felt really good in front of the home crowd. They were really loud, surprisingly, really nice and made me feel really good. I saw the medals at a press conference and I really wanted to get one, so I was working for that," Liu said.

"I was a little bit down after the 1500m but I was there with my head and put the race together.

"I was there in two finals so I think I did enough. I thought, 'I'm not going to be sad if I don't (win a) medal on the 500m'."

In the men's Final B at the Audi ISU World Cup Short Track in Budapest, Samuel Girard (CAN) won his second B final race of the day.

"I was pretty happy about this too. I stuck to my plan and the final race was perfect. Now I've got some more experience with me for the next World Cup – and some more points towards the Olympic Games," he said.

"It's always fun to win a final in 500m because it's very fast-paced and a lot can happen but in the end I'd get more points coming third or fourth in a final A, so I'd happily take that next time."

Click here to see the results.