Liu, Boutin clinch season titles in 1000m in ISU World Cup

SEOUL - Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor and Canada's Kim Boutin clinched season titles in the 1000m, while the men's and women's relays supplied plenty of thrills and spills as usual at the ISU short-track speedskating World Cup here over the weekend.

The Netherlands were disappointed that an aggressive approach could not yield a second relay gold on Sunday.

South Korea crossed the 5000m line first without the services of wunderkind Hwang Dae Heon, while the USA followed up their world-record feat last week in Shanghai with a bronze.

The ladies from the Netherlands won their relay minutes prior to the men's final and the men came out looking like they wanted a repeat. They grabbed the lead with 12 laps to go but it seemingly woke the South Koreans up.

"We were just skating our own race," said Dutch star Sjinkie Knegt. "Our goal was to keep the speed high. The (South) Koreans tried to slow down a little but we kept the speed high.

World Cup leaders Canada did not make it past the heats but did enough at the first three stops to remain at the top. Japan won the B final.

The Netherlands took advantage of a collision between the race leaders to win their first ladies 3000m relay gold this ISU World Cup Short Track season.

The South Korean and Chinese skaters made contact with four laps to go, which allowed the Dutch and Russians to swoop past.

South Korea ended up with the bronze and finished the world cup series as the overall winner in the relay. China received a penalty.

"A lot of things happened," Yara van Kerkhof said. "We wanted to start in front but we were second and we tried to keep our spot. We suddenly became third and it was a little bit more stressful."

Apart from the collision, South Korea also botched a handover two laps prior while leading, which set up the fateful moment.

Van Kerkhof was proud of the victory, also their first relay medal of any colour over the four stops of the World Cup season.

"We were excited to race here in this stadium and this crowd. Before the race started we said, let's make the crowd quiet by winning, and we won," she said.

She prefers not to look at it as a fluke.

"It gives a lot of confidence and what can happen here can also happen at the Olympics. I get a good feeling for the Olympics."

The race for the men's 1000m overall crown was wide open entering the final and Liu Shaolin Sandor's gold settled it.

Hwang Dae Heon's silver meant he finished second in the ISU World Cup Short Track classification while Canada's Samuel Girard took bronze.