Korean teen Min Jeong finds redemption
PYEONGCHANG: South Korea’s world record-holder Choi Min Jeong shed tears of joy as she seized her first Olympic title in the women’s 1,500m short track yesterday, making up for her disqualification in the 500m final.
Min Jeong, 19, eased to the front with two laps to go and she glided well clear of the field to win in 2min 24.948sec, more than a second faster than China’s Li Jinyu.
Min Jeong threw her arms into the air as she did a lap of honour for the ecstatic 12,000-capacity crowd, and the tears flowed as she hugged her coach.
Kim Boutin of Canada, who received abuse on social media over Choi’s disqualification in the 500m, grabbed her second bronze medal of the Games.
But the agony continued for British world champion Elise Christie, who was stretchered away and taken to hospital after she crashed out painfully in the semi-finals.
Elise was also a crash casualty in the women’s 500m final and at Sochi 2014, she went home empty-handed after being penalised in all three of her events.
“It’s too early to tell anything, we’ll have some scans and find out exactly what the story is,” said Mike Hay, Team GB chef de mission.
“It’s tough. But right now it’s about Elise’s health. She was in a great form and I saw her a couple of times and she was in a great place, it’s just incredibly unfortunate.”