South Korean takes gold in 500M speedskating; American withdraws

RICHMOND, British Columbia Mo posted the second-best time of the opening race, then blazed around the track in a time of 34.90 seconds in the second heat to snatch the gold with a total time of 1 minute, 9.82 seconds. Japan took the next two spots with Keiichiro Nagashima claiming silver and Joji Kato the bronze.

This race hardly went off as planned. After the first 10 pairs skated the opening race, there was a delay of about an hour because of various mechanical problems with the ice-resurfacing machines. Officials even discussed postponing the rest of the competition before one of the machines was repaired.

American Shani Davis posted the 18th best time of the first run, then withdrew from the event.