China dominates women's 1,000m speed skating

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-25 17:11

HARBIN -- Chinese women skaters again excelled on the oval here Wednesday as Japan's Nao Kodaira came out the only foreigner in top five of the women's 1,000 meters speed skating at the 24th Universiade.

"The host's duo, who finished 1-2, were both too fast for me to catch up," said the 22-year-old Kodaira, who managed to wriggle herself among the Chinese to take the bronze medal after competing alongside Ren Hui in the last pair to time one minute and 17.48 seconds.

"It was my last event out of the four. I've put my name in the participants, and I felt really tired. I'm just happy for having finished it," added the Japanese, who beat China's Dong Feifei and Ji Jia to win the 1,500 meters five days ago.

Jin Peiyu clocked one minute and 16.83 seconds for the title while setting the new universiade record in Wednesday's 1,000 meters final, and sprint specialist Yu Jing, who won the 100m gold medal last Sunday and the 500m silver last Thursday, timed 1:16.96 to add a second silver to her medal collection here.

Ren Hui, one of the pre-tournament favorite but having failed to win a medal, was the fourth with a time of 17.90, while Zhang Shuang, the silver medalist in the 100m sprint and the third-placed in the opening day's 500 meters, followed as the fifth in the overall standings at 1:18.11.

"I've been determined for today's race," Jin said at a press conference. "I tried really hard to tune myself up, as a cold have cost my chances in the previous events, and shrugged off pressure for a fluent performance."

The previous Universiade record was 1:17.33 and Jin bettered it for half a second.

"It is my best time on this oval but still away from my personal best," added Jin, whose PB is around one minute and 16.40 seconds, a time she'd claimed this season in two stops of the World Cups in Russia and Germany.

Jin's been ranked third in two previous World Cups and once the runner-up of the women's 500 meters in a Russian World Cup.

Her teammate Yu Jing was convinced by her performance, saying that "Jin skated a perfect race and deserved the gold medal".