6th short track gold for S.Korea:men's 5,000 relay
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-26 09:50

TURIN, Italy - Ahn Hyun-soo led South Korea to its sixth gold medal in eight short-track speedskating events, winning the 5,000-meter relay in an Olympic record time Saturday night. Canada took silver and the United States, with Apolo Anton Ohno, bronze.

Korea's Men's 5000 meter relay team bow to Korean flags amongst spectators following their gold medal victory in the Short Track Speed Skating competition at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2006. [AP]

In a spectacular race to end the tournament, Canada and South Korea exchanged the lead several times over the 45-lap race on the tight skating rink. The Canadians and South Koreans even briefly stumbled into each other with barely two laps to go.

That left the work to Ahn.

Confident under pressure, he took back the lead from Canada's Mathieu Turcotte. He crossed the line in a time of 6 minutes, 43.376 seconds and with a rare show of celebration.

Ahn pumped his fists, high-fived his teammates and joined them on their knees. They then bowed to the Korean fans in the stands. Barely showing expression on other occasions, Ahn was all smiles. It was his third gold of these games. He also won a bronze, finishing third to Ohno in the 500 meters earlier Saturday.

This was a two-team race after the midpoint, with the Americans vying with the Italian hosts for bronze.

The six gold medals overall was the best ever showing for the Koreans, two more than their previous best four years ago.