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BEIJING -- Liu Shaoang of Hungary won Olympic gold in 500-meter short track speedskating on Sunday. He led all the way and crossed the line in 40.338 seconds at Capital Indoor Stadium. It was Liu's third medal of the Beijing Games, having earned bronze in the 1,000 and the mixed team relay. Russian skater Konstantin Ivliev took silver. Steven Dubois of Canada earned bronze. The A final was missing some of the biggest names. Defending champion Wu Dajing of China was relegated to the B final, which he won. Ren Ziwei of China and Liu's older brother, Liu Shaolin Sandor, were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Hwang Daeheon of South Korea went out in the semifinals after getting a penalty for a late pass that caused contact with Dubois. The Canadian was advanced to the A final and won his second medal in Beijing. He took silver in the 1,500. The 500 was devoid of the chaos that defines short track, with no one crashing in the five-lap sprint. Without Wu in the A final, the limited amount of Chinese fans had little reason to cheer. Led by Suzanne Schulting, the Netherlands won the 3,000 relay, breaking a hold on the event by South Korea. Schulting collected her second gold and third medal overall in Beijing. She earned silver in the 500 and gold in the 1,000. She screamed and raised her arms in triumph after crossing the finish line. The Dutch team of Schulting, Selma Poutsma, Xandra Velzeboer and Yana van Kerkhof lowered their own Olympic record with a time of 4:03.40. Four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games, the Dutch finished third. Two-time defending champion South Korea rallied to take silver in the event it has won six times in nine Olympics. China earned bronze. There were no crashes in the four-team final. Canada finished fourth. Arianna Fontana led Italy to victory in the B final. The Russians were penalized and the United States was penalized for a lane change that caused an obstruction. American skater Kristen Santos crashed in the race.
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