Winter Olympics 2022 - Shaoang Liu wins 500m short track gold as favourites exit early in Beijing

Updated 13/02/2022 at 14:20 GMT

Hungary's Shaoang Liu won his first individual Winter Olympic title with victory in short track speed skating's 500m in Beijing, after the favourites for gold - reigning champion Wu Dajing and Hwang Dae-heon - suffered shock early exits and failed to make the final. Liu's brother Shaolin failed to make it out of the quarter-finals to compound his difficult Games so far.

'Absolutely sensational' - Liu celebrates winning gold in 500m

Shaoang Liu won 500m short track speed skating gold at the Winter Olympics in a competition which saw the favourites fail to make it to the final in Beijing.

The Hungarian finished ahead of Konstantin Ivliev of the Russian Olympic Committee and Canada's Steven Dubois to upgrade from the 1000m bronze he won earlier at the Games.

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There was a shock final line-up, with reigning champion Wu Dajing failing to make the final, while South Korea's 1500m Olympic champion Hwang Dae-heon, who won silver four years ago, also went out at the penultimate stage after he was disqualified for an infringement.

There were surprises in the quarter-finals with Ren Ziwei, who had already won 1000m and 5000m relay gold, being dumped out in the first race. Shaolin Sandor Liu suffered more disappointment by finishing fourth in his race, having been disqualified from the 1000m earlier in the Games when he thought he had won.

Wu cruised through his opening race of the day, but the drama was reserved for the semi-finals. Konstantin Ivliev of the Russian Olympic Committee and Italy’s Pietro Sighel advanced from the first race, but in the second, the competition was to lose its favourites.

Hwang attempted a risky move on the inside, pushing Steven Dubois of Canada wide, but the 1500m winner was penalised. Wu was the favourite going into the event as the defending champion, and the Chinese crowd were shocked when he could only manage a third-place finish to miss out on the A final, with Shaoang Liu and Abzal Azhgaliyev progressing automatically and Dubois also put through because of the infringement from Hwang.

'Dominant' - Liu wins gold for Hungary in 500m at Beijing 2022

Nerves for the final ratcheted up with a false start but Liu surged into the lead from the start, challenged by Iviliev, but the Hungarian was strong enough to hold off the challenge and take his first individual gold, having been in the shadow of brother Shaolin Liu going into the Games.

But his sibling led the celebrations on the sidelines, roaring with delight on top of the side canvas.

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