Winter Olympics 2022 - Choi Min-jeong beats Arianna Fontana, Suzanne Schulting to retain 1500m title

Choi Min-jeong denied Arianna Fontana and Suzanne Schulting another Beijing Winter Olympic gold as she retained her 1500m title to close the short track speed skating programme. There was barely anything to separate the three favourites for the race, but the South Korean surged clear to win in 2:17.81 having earlier set a new Olympic record, with Fontana claiming silver over Schulting after a photo finish.

Ad/> There was a blow for Team GB before the event, as Kathryn Thomson was ruled out on “medical grounds”, but no other reasons were given. /> Beijing 2022'Absolutely wonderful!' — Jackson seals stunning gold in 500m speed skating13/02/2022 AT 16:35 /> There was huge confusion after the first quarter-final heat, with suggestions an extra lap may have been raced, but the results were eventually confirmed and all of the favourites made it through to the next stage.

The racing started to heat up in the semi-finals, with Fontana needing to battle for a spot in the medal race. The Italian came from behind to qualify behind Lee Yu-bin.

Schulting had a bit more of a test in her race. The Dutch athlete usually likes to get out in front in her races but she needed an explosion of pace to go clear with Belgium’s Hanne Desmet, before qualifying fairly easily.

Choi showed that she would be the one to beat by setting a new Olympic record in her semi, a sudden burst of pace seeing her surge past the field to win her race in 2:16.83. Beijing 2022 Olympic Games: Schedule, big names, key events and more Schulting bounces back to retain 1000m title Fontana retains 500m title to end Schulting's hopes of a clean sweep Han Yutong gave the Chinese fans something to cheer about in the early stages of the race, leading the way with 10 laps to