Chinese skater wins short-track gold at Winter Universiade

China's Tao Jiaying (in red) races to win the women's short track 1,500-meter competition on Wednesday at the 26th Winter Universiade in Trento. [Photo/Xinhua]

TRENTO, Italy - Chinese skater Tao Jiaying triumphed in the women's short track 1,500-meter competition on Wednesday to snatch China's third gold medal at the 26th Winter Universiade.

Tao finished in two minutes and 30.296 seconds ahead of Hungary's Bernadett Heidium (2:30.545) and South Korea's Hwang Hyunsun (2:30.606).

"I am happy. I was not feeling much pressure during this competition," said the 20-year-old athlete from the Harbin Institute of Physical Education.

Tao, who competed in the Universiade for the firs time, adopted a practical approach when talking about her future aim.

"But I have no specific objectives for the future. I just want to do my best, step after step," she said.

Tao's teammate Guo Yihan crashed when leading in the final lap to miss the gold she expected herself to win.

"I knew that the South Korean team was strong, but this time I was in superb form and feeling that I could win," she said.

Guo, an 18-year-old student from Changchun Normal University, said she was pushed by a Korean skater to crash.

"It's a shame, as indeed I was in a good form today, which I had not expected. Without the crash, I could have won the gold," she added,

The Russian biathlon team formed by Larisa Kuznetsova, Tatiana Semenova, Sergei Kliachin and Aleksandr Pechenkin dominated in the mixed relay to win Russia's 12th gold, which placed them first in the medal table with 38 medals.

Poland remained second in the medal table with 21 medals after winning their ninth gold in men's team ski jumping.

Wednesday saw the first gold medal for the Netherlands, with Pim Cazemier winning in men's 10,000m speed skating.  

Alexis Keeney from the US and Kalle Leinonen from Finland won respectively the women' and men's slopestyle competitions, which were held for the first time in a Winter Universiade.