BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea won the Olympic men's 1,500m title in two minutes and 9.219 seconds at the Beijing Winter Olympics here on Wednesday.
Steven Dubois of Canada took the silver medal in 2:09.254. The bronze went to 1,500m World Cup winner Semen Elistratov of the Russian Olympic Committee in 2:09.267.
China's Ren Ziwei, who tops the World Cup rankings in this distance, was penalized for an arm block in the semifinals.
"It was a stupid mistake," rued Ren, who has won two gold medals at Beijing 2022 in the 2,000m mixed team relay and the men's 1,000m.
"I tried to avoid penalties and the action was unintentional," he added.
In the quarterfinals, Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu refreshed the Olympic record to 2: 09.213.
Also on Wednesday, China's women's relay team, which consists of Han Yutong, Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Zhang Yuting, advanced to the 3,000m relay final. They will compete against the Netherlands, Canada and South Korea on Sunday.
Qu topped the women's 1,000m heats and qualified for the semifinals along with teammates Han and Zhang Chutong.
Defending champion Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands, who had broken the Olympic record in the 500m four days ago, led the way in the 1,000m heats with a new Olympic record of 1:27.292. ■
