Chinese sweet 500m medals in short track speed skating worlds

Chinese skaters bagged the medals in women's 500m race in the world short track speed skating championships Saturday.

China's double Olympic champion Yang Yang (A) grabbed the gold medal as an exciting comeback gift to herself.

Francois-Luis Tremblay from Canada lift the men 's 500m title in a time of 42.106 seconds. He won the silver medal in Friday's 1,500m event.

In the women's event, the solid effort by Chinese trio Yang Yang (A), Wang Meng and Fu Tianyu held off any challenges from the two finalists -- Bulgarian veteran Evgenia Radanova and Choi Eun-kyung from South Korea.

Yang, who clinched China's first ever Winter Olympic gold medals in women's 500m and 1,000m in Salt Lake City in 2002, sprinted home first in a time of 45.038 seconds.

In the post-race press conference, a delighted Yang said that with strong support from her teammates, she clinched the victory very smoothly. "Besides, Radanova, the world record holder, didn't exert herself normally in the final," she said.

Because of a lack of physical strength due to the halt of training, Yang failed to grab a place in the 1,500m final on Friday. However, the 28-year-old skater star, who came back to the rink last July, showed a firm self-confidence from the start in Saturday's final and led throughout the race.

China's defending champion Wang, also the women's 500m and overall No.1 in this season's world cup final standings, came second in 45.129 seconds.

Fu Tianyu, who ranked second in women's 500m final standings, finished third at 45.232 seconds.

In Friday's 1,500m final, Wang had to face the powerful South Koreans before taking the bronze medal.

In the men's competition, Canadian Francois-Luis Tremblay and his compatriot Charles Hamelin took the top two spots. Hamelin's result is 42.135 seconds.

Ahn Hyun-Soo from South Korea, who easily clinched his third consecutive 1,500m world title Friday, erupted in the final lap and grabbed a bronze medal in the 500m final on Saturday, in 42.185 seconds.

Chinese veteran Li Jiajun and his teammate Su Baoku both failed to enter the men's 500m semi-finals.