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China wins first title of Universiade speed skating

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-23 18:20

HARBIN -- China's sprint specialists of speed skating finally lived to their names here on Sunday as Yu Jing and Zhang Shuang finished 1-2 in the women's 100 meters at the Harbin Universiade on the slow start of South Korea's super talent Lee Sang Hwa.

Lee, dubbed as South Korea's No. 1 speed skater who claimed the first gold medal up to grab at the Universiade with an undisputed victory in Thursday's women's 500 meters, hesitated on the second start of the final and went out of gas in the dying sprint to touch the finish line as the last one on 10.82 seconds.

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Despite Lee's giving up, Yu Jing of China, the host country's eshtablished sprinter on ice only second to the multi-Asian champion Wang Beixing, clocked 10.29 seconds for the crown, while her compatriot Zhang Shuang followed to place the second on 10.57.

It's been the first sprint title won by the hosts since the long track speed skating competitions started last Thursday, and only the second gold medal of the sport for China after Fu Chunyan lifted the women's 3,000m trophy on Saturday.

Another Chinese Jin Peiyu and Zhang Lu respectively finished the fifth on 10.79 and seventh on 10.82 after both made the semifinals but being classified to the second and third group.

The Universiade women's 1,500m title holder Nao Kodaira settled for a disappointing sixth after timing 10.80 in the classification final of Group Two.