VANCOUVER, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Olympic champion Jens van't Wout won gold in the men's 500 meters and 1,500 meters at the season-opening ISU Short Track World Tour in Vancouver on Saturday.
The Vancouver event, held from October 23 to 25, is the first of seven stops on the 2026-27 international circuit.
Van't Wout, who won the 1,500m title at the 2026 Winter Olympics, took gold in the same event in 2 minutes, 20.025 seconds, ahead of South Korea's Rim Jong-un and Japan's Shogo Miyata.
Earlier, the Dutchman produced a late surge in the men's 500m final, moving from third place to claim victory in 40.551 seconds. Canada's Maxime Laoun finished second, with Türkiye's Furkan Akar third.
In the women's events, South Korea's Choi Min-jeong won the 1,000m title in 1:32.954, finishing ahead of the Netherlands' Xandra Velzeboer and Italy's Gloria Ioriatti.
Host nation Canada took gold in the women's 3,000m relay, with South Korea claiming silver and the Netherlands bronze.
China endured a difficult day, with Zhu Yiding's seventh-place finish in the men's 1,500m its best individual result. Zhu was the only Chinese skater to reach an A final across Saturday's four medal events, spending much of the race toward the back of the field.
In the men's 500m, China's Sun Long, Zhang Zixia and Li Kun were all eliminated in the quarterfinals, while Song Jiarui reached the women's 1,000m semifinals but failed to advance after receiving a penalty.
China's women's team won the B final of the 3,000m relay in 4:15.499, while the men's team advanced to the 5,000m relay final after finishing second in its semifinal.
China's men will face South Korea, Canada and Japan in Sunday's final.
Five gold medals will be decided on the final day of competition, including the women's 500m and men's 1,000m. ■
