BUDAPEST, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Canadian men's team claimed the 5000m relay title while South Korea took three gold medals in the 1000m and women's 3000m relay on the final day of the ISU World Cup short track speedskating event here on Sunday.
In the concluding final of the weekend, Canada's male relay team, formed by Charles Hamelin, Charle Cournoyer, Samuel Girard and Pascal Dion, sprinted to the 5000m relay gold
"It's always nice to see the ladies step on the podium and do a very strong race, it pumps us up and we are all happy when we go out of the arena afterwards," Dion.
After a strong Canadian start, Dion nearly fell in the 21st lap after a clash with South Korean star Seo Yi Ra.
However, the Canadian quartet sprinting from third to first in the closing nine laps.
"That was just incredible. It was a pretty good race, we managed to catch up on the Chinese and the Japanese and had a constant speed all the way to the end and were able to actually push for the win," Cournoyer said.
"First World Cup, first win - we couldn't have asked for a better start. That gives us a lot of room to qualify for the Olympic Games too. Now we are going to improve even more."
Choi Min Jeong of South Korea snatched victories in the 1000m and the women's 3000m relay, having won two gold medals on Saturday.
The 19-year-old said returning to South Korea with four gold medals eased the pressure of being the big home hope for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
"I'm really happy. I feel more confident now than yesterday," she said.
"The final race was pretty easy because I had such good results yesterday and got a lot of confidence."
Kim Boutin of Canada stayed in the top two throughout the 1000m race to claim her second silver medal of the weekend, beating world champion Elise Christie of Britain who won bronze.
Boutin was also runner-up behind Choi in the 1500m final on Saturday, and the Canadian 22-year-old pledged to continue to chase the weekend's most dominant athlete.
"For me it was a really good start. It's a first final for me with these girls and I feel that it's just the beginning, I'm going to find a way to pass the South Korean in front of me too," Boutin said.
Her Canadian teammates had led the women's 3000m relay final for the first 13 laps, before losing out to the South Korean team but finishing ahead of Russia to win the silver medal.
"It was a hard race because the South Koreans showed good strength from the beginning," Kasandra Bradette of Canada said.
"But I think we showed what we can do and I still think that we can do better."
In men's 1000m, Hyo Jun Lim came first with 1:26.092, followed by fellow South Korean Dae Heon Hwang with 1:26.418 while the bronze medal was won by Han Tianyu from China with 1:26.622. In men's 1000m, Chinese skater Wu Dajing won the B final with 1:33.357.
The ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating series continues next weekend in Dordrecht, Netherlands.
