Short Track Speed Skating at the 2010 Winter Games: Previous Winter Games
Host City: Vancouver, Canada
Venue(s): Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver
Date Started: February 13, 2010
Date Finished: February 13, 2010
Format: Placements 1-12 based on final and B final. Deeper placements based on placements in earlier rounds, and best time skated.
| Gold: | Lee Jeong-Su |
| Silver: | Apolo Anton Ohno |
| Bronze: | J. R. Celski |
As is common in short track speed skating, the South Koreans were favored in this event. With Lee Ho-Seok, they entered the reigning world champion in the event. He was joined by two team mates, Seong Si-Baek and Lee Jeong-Su. The three Koreans demonstrated their might in the semi-finals, as they all won their respective heats. They were joined in the final by Apolo Anton Ohno (USA), the 2002 champion, Liang Wenhao (China), Olivier Jean (Canada), who qualified after being interfered with in the semi-finals, and J. R. Celski (USA).
With three men in the final, the Koreans were determined to make it a clean sweep. Their plan appeared to work perfectly, as they were occupying the first three places going into the final lap. While Lee Jeong-Su was leading, Lee Ho-Seok attempted to pass his two team mates on the inside of final curve. But he went too fast, and crashed out of the curve, dragging Seong along with him. Instead of three Koreans on the podium, only Lee Jeong-Su was left, who did take the gold. Behind him, Ohno and Celski took medals for the United States.
For Ohno, it was his sixth Olympic medal, the highest total for any short track skater, and also the highest for any American Winter Olympian (although Bonnie Blair, who he passed, had won more gold medals). Celski's bronze medal was also remarkable. During the US Olympic Trials, he had crashed badly, severely cutting his thigh with his skate, which required some sixty stiches, and it seemed uncertain if he would skate again. With the help of Dr. Eric Heiden, Celski recovered in time for the Vancouver Olympics.
A notable participant in the B-final was Latvia's Haralds Silovs. The 1,500 m European Champion for 2008 and 2009, he had competed in the 5,000 m on the long track earlier in the day, becoming the first Olympian to combine both speed skating variants at the same Games - and on the same day.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | PLR | P | BT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Jeong-Su | 20 | South Korea | KOR | Gold | AF-1 | |||
| 2 | Apolo Anton Ohno | 27 | United States | USA | Silver | AF-2 | |||
| 3 | J. R. Celski | 19 | United States | USA | Bronze | AF-3 | |||
| 4 | Olivier Jean | 25 | Canada | CAN | AF-4 | ||||
| 5 | Seong Si-Baek | 22 | South Korea | KOR | AF-5 | ||||
| 6 | Liang Wenhao | 17 | China | CHN | AF-6 | ||||
| 7 | Charles Hamelin | 25 | Canada | CAN | BF-1 | ||||
| 8 | Nicola Rodigari | 28 | Italy | ITA | BF-2 | ||||
| 9 | Pieter Gysel | 29 | Belgium | BEL | BF-3 | ||||
| 10 | Haralds Silovs | 23 | Latvia | LAT | BF-4 | ||||
| 11 | Sebastian Praus | 29 | Germany | GER | BF-5 | ||||
| 12 | Lee Ho-Seok | 23 | South Korea | KOR | BF-DQ | 1-2 | 2:14.324 | ||
| 13 | Yuri Confortola | 23 | Italy | ITA | AF-DQ | 3-1 | 2:13.645 | ||
| 14 | Sjinkie Knegt | 20 | Netherlands | NED | SF-5 | 5-2 | 2:13.870 | ||
| 15 | Liu Xianwei | 22 | China | CHN | SF-5 | 5-2 | 2:14.354 | ||
| 16 | Jack Whelbourne | 18 | Great Britain | GBR | SF-5 | 5-3 | 2:14.972 | ||
| 17 | Takahiro Fujimoto | 24 | Japan | JPN | SF-6 | 6-3 | 2:15.984 | ||
| 18 | Jumpei Yoshizawa | 24 | Japan | JPN | SF-6 | 6-5 | 2:15.129 | ||
| 19 | Péter Darázs | 24 | Hungary | HUN | SF-7 | 7-3 | 2:18.349 | ||
| 20 | Niels Kerstholt | 26 | Netherlands | NED | SF-7 | 7-5 | 2:16.352 | ||
| 21 | Jean-Charles Mattei | 27 | France | FRA | SF-7 | 7-5 | 2:33.989 | ||
| 22 | Benjamin Macé | 20 | France | FRA | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:12.875 | ||
| 23 | Tyson Heung | 30 | Germany | GER | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:14.461 | ||
| 24 | Semyon Yelistratov | 19 | Russia | RUS | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:15.455 | ||
| 25 | Anthony Douglas | 24 | Great Britain | GBR | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:16.622 | ||
| 26 | Nicolas Bean | 22 | Italy | ITA | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:17.089 | ||
| 27 | Jakub Jaworski | 23 | Poland | POL | R1-4 | 0-4 | 2:19.163 | ||
| 28 | Blake Skjellerup | 24 | New Zealand | NZL | R1-5 | 0-5 | 2:14.730 | ||
| 29 | Yuzo Takamido | 22 | Japan | JPN | R1-5 | 0-5 | 2:15.402 | ||
| 30 | Viktor Knoch | 20 | Hungary | HUN | R1-5 | 0-5 | 2:16.826 | ||
| 31 | Ruslan Zakharov | 22 | Russia | RUS | R1-6 | 0-6 | 2:14.929 | ||
| 32 | Paul Herrmann | 24 | Germany | GER | R1-6 | 0-6 | 2:16.782 | ||
| 33 | Song Weilong | 20 | China | CHN | R1-6 | 0-6 | 2:20.095 | ||
| AC | Jordan Malone | 25 | United States | USA | DQ | ||||
| AC | Guillaume Bastille | 24 | Canada | CAN | DQ | ||||
| AC | Maxime Chataignier | 21 | France | FRA | DQ |