China takes gold, silver in men's 1,000-meter short track speed skating

Feb. 7 (UPI) -- China's Ren Ziwei took the gold medal and teammate Li Wenlong won the silver in the men's 1,000-meter short-track speed skating event at the 2022 Winter Games. It was the first time in Olympic history that China won the gold in the event.

Ziwei finished in 1:26.768 in an event that had Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu crossing the finish line first -- but Liu was penalized for an illegal lane change and that put him out of the medal hunt. The bronze was won by Liu's younger brother, Shaoang Liu.

There were 11 penalties in all throughout the event.

This is the second gold of the Games for Ziwei, as he also claimed the top medal in the mixed team relay for People's Republic of China on Saturday.

American Andrew Heo finished third in his semifinal, and teammate Ryan Pivirotto's day ended early, as he fell forward after his skate dug into the ice at the start of his quarterfinal race.