The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2013 were held in Debrecen, Hungary this weekend. Meng Wang (CHN) was crowned the women's World Short Track Speed Skating Champion, while Da Woon Sin (KOR) earned the title of World Short Track Speed Skating Champion on the men's side.
Wang finished the weekend with 68 points and two gold medals. Seung-Hi Park (KOR) finished second overall with 58 points and two podium finishes. Suk Hee Shim (KOR) concluded the weekend in third place overall with 55 points and also two podium finishes.
On the Men's side, Sin had three podium finishes and two medals in his world championship quest. He tallied 89 points, 34 points ahead of overall second place finisher Yun-Jae Kim (KOR). Charles Hamelin (CAN) finished third overall with 39 points and three podium finishes.
1500m
The weekend kicked off with the 1500 meters distance. In the Ladies competition, Seung-Hi Park took the win, earning 34 points towards the overall title. Her teammate Suk Hee Shim finished in second place, with Canadian skater Marianne St-Gelais finished in third. On the Men's side, Da Woon Sin finished on top of the podium, ahead of teammate Yun-Jae Kim. Charles Hamelin was third. Both Park and Sin were the overall classification leaders with 34 points.
500m
Saturday's program included the 500 meters events for the Ladies and Men. It was no surprise to see Meng Wang finishing first, as she has dominated this distance the entire season. Seung-Hi Park finished second, which moved her into the overall lead after two events with 55 points. Third place finisher was Kexin Fan (CHN). Wang earned 34 points with the win, moving her into second place overall after two events, while St-Gelais and Shim were tied for third place with 21 points.
On the Men' side, it was Wenhao Liang (CHN) finishing in first, followed by Victor An (RUS). Freek Van der Wart (NED) finished third, which made him the first individual medal winner for a Dutch man at the World Championships since 1988.. After two events, both Sin and Liang were tied for first place overall with 34 points; Kim and An were tied for third place with 21 points.
1000m
The third and last day of these championships began with the 1000m events. Meng Wang moved into the overall classification lead by taking the win in the 1000m event. Jorien Ter Mors (NED) and Elise Christie (GBR) finished second and third respectively. With Seung-Hi Park not scoring any points in this event, Wang now had a 13 point lead over Park (55 points) entering the last individual event. Three skaters were tied in third place overall with 21 points: Suk Hee Shim, Marianne St-Gelais and Jorien Ter Mors.
In the Men's 1000 meters event, Da Woon Sin took his second win of these championships, finishing ahead of Sjinkie Knegt (NED). Third place finish went to Charles Hamelin. The win gave Sin a very comfortable lead in the overall classification with 68 points going into the last event. Wenhao Liang was sitting second overall with 34 points, while Hamelin was third with 26 points.
3000m Super Finals
In the Ladies Super Final, Suk Hee Shim won the event, ahead of Marianne St-Gelais. Jorien Ter Mors took third place. Despite not scoring any points in the event due to a penalty, Meng Wang was able to clinch the championship title with 68 points. Seung-Hi Park, who mathematically was still in contention for the overall win, only earned 3 points with her sixth place finish.
On the Men's side, Sin needed to finish eight or better and not incur a penalty in order to clinch the overall championship. He did much better by finishing second in a field of nine skaters. The eventual race winner of the Men's Super Final was Yun-Jae Kim, whose 34 points secured him second place in the overall classification. Charles Hamelin finished third and earned 13 points to solidify his third place in the overall ranking.
Relay
The third day of these World Championships concluded with the Relay Finals. The Ladies 3000 meters relay was won by China, which was not a surprise given the season's domination of the team in this event. This is China's third consecutive Ladies title of the World Short Track Speed Skating Relay Champions. The team Canada finished second, ahead of Japan.
In the Men's 5000 meters relay final, Canada also earned a third consecutive World Short Track Speed Skating Relay Champion title with a win in the event. The team from Russia finished a close second, with the Netherlands completing the podium with a third place.