Russia (bbabo.net), - South Korean Tae Hong Hwan won the race in 2 minutes 9.219 seconds. The fate of prize-winning places was decided by the photo finish. Silver was eventually won by Canada's Stephen Dubois, who was slightly ahead at 2:09.254. Elistratov is third (2.09.267). Another Russian athlete Denis Hayrapetyan took second place in the repechage final.

In general, Semyon Elistratov calls the 1500 m distance his favorite. On it, he became the bronze medalist of Pyeongchang 2018, the world champion in 2015, and the bronze medalist of the 2021 World Cup. She was the motivation after the 1000m failure here in Beijing, where the athlete failed to make it to the quarterfinals. Then he said that he was not going to give up, he would fight to the end. "It's a shame, but I still have 1500 meters," Yelistratov said.

The installation worked. Although the competition was fierce. Take at least the number of participants in the final race - 10 people. Usually six, maximum seven athletes go to the start.

Yesterday, preliminary races at a distance of 1000 meters for women were also held, in which Sofya Prosvirnova, Ekaterina Efremenkova and Anna Vostrikova started. Efremenkova finished second in her race and made it to the 1/4 finals. Vostrikova was third in hers, but went further in time. But the European champion, winner of the world championships Prosvirnova continues to have a black stripe. She fell and again received a "penalty", or disqualification, as in the 500-meter race. Only then, at the stage of the quarterfinals, Sonya took a risk and was punished for interfering with her opponent.

Consider another embarrassing disqualification that happened in the semi-final race in the mixed relay, which made its debut in the Olympic Games program. The Russian team - Semyon Elistratov, Sofia Prosvirnova, Konstantin Ivliev and Elena Seregina - took fourth place in the semi-finals. And after the race, the judges also saw ours as the wrong transfer of the baton.

Yelistratov admitted that then everything was on the case.

- When passing the baton, we interfered with the Chinese team, violated the rules. I think the referee's decision to disqualify, no matter how tough they were, was right, because we really created a hindrance, - Semyon told reporters. - There were two moments that are visible on the recording. It's just pointless to argue.

He was supported by Prosvirnova, who was a participant in the incident.

- The rules were broken. You can't argue with the judge here. Such situations happen. Not only at the Olympic Games, but also at other competitions. We're out of luck today. We have made unacceptable mistakes. I don’t know what to write them off for, ”Prosvirnova told reporters, promising to analyze the situation and learn a lesson from it.

Meanwhile, in the women's 3000m relay, Vostrikova, Efremenkova, Prosvirnova and Seregina could not reach the A final. In total, nine sets of awards are played within the framework of the Olympic tournament - four each for men and one in mixed discipline. Our athletes do not have many chances to win medals.

Who Victor teaches to win

The Olympic successes of Russian short track skating are connected with the name of Victor An, a champion from Korea, who changed his sports citizenship and played for our national team. At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, he collected an impressive collection of medals - he won three golds at once - in the 1000 and 500 meters races, as well as in the relay race along with Vladimir Grigoriev, Semyon Elistratov and Ruslan Zakharov. Ana's victories were the first for Russia in short track speed skating at the Games.

In PyeongChang-2018, he could not perform, but he wanted to put a beautiful end to his career. A trip to the 2022 Olympics was planned, but the pandemic disrupted them. Although An did come to Beijing. Only not as an active athlete, but as a coach of the Chinese team.

Since 2019, the hosts of the Games have been hunting for such a valuable specialist. An even said that the Chinese Federation offered him a fabulous contract by the standards of short track. According to some media reports, the six-time Olympic champion is paid 300,000 euros. But then Viktor rejected the offer, hoping to still run for the Russian national team. When the situation changed, the decision also changed.

An is now the assistant coach of the Chinese national short track speed skating team. By the way, his senior colleague is compatriot Kim Sun-tae, who led the South Korean team at the 2018 home Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Recall that the Chinese short track skaters won gold in the same mixed relay at a distance of 2000 meters.

The Dutch national team set the Olympic record in the quarterfinals (2 minutes 36.437 seconds). But in the finals, the most successful - and there were many falls and blockages during the competition - were Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei (2 minutes 37.348 seconds). The second place was taken by the team of Italy (2:37.364), the top three was closed by the Hungarian short trackers (2:40.900).

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