1,500 metres, Men

Already with two gold medals to his name (the 1,000 m and the mixed relay), China’s Ren Ziwei was the favorite for the 1,500 m. Ren had also won the last two World Cup races of the season, with the others going to 35-year-old Yuri Confortola and Semyon Yelistratov. Veteran star Charles Hamelin had claimed two of the world titles since the 2018 Olympics (2018 and 2021), while the 2019 champion Im Hyo-Jun was not in competition after a harassment scandal and nationality change.

The quarter-finals proceeded without major incidents or upsets. The first two semi-finals were also fairly uneventful, but the third, which featured Ren, Hamelin, Confortola, as well as Shaoang Liu, bronze medallist in the 1,000 m, and Park Jang-Hyuk, who had earned three World Cup bronzes earlier in the year, saw some drama. Early in the race, Hamelin blocked Confortola and Treacy in an overtake attempt, causing the Italian to crash. Similarly, Ren arm blocked Galiakhmetov, meaning both Ren and Hamelin were penalized. All of the five other racers qualified for the final, bringing that to a massive 10-person field.

There were no penalties in the final, which saw a lot of lead changes in the opening laps. With 9 laps to go, Hwang Dae-Heon, moved up from the middle of the pack to the lead, passing all on the outside within a lap. Closely followed by Steven Dubois and Yelistratov, the Korean then gradually increased the pace, making it very hard for the others to pass. Despite furious attempts by among others Yelistratov, the top three did not change again. It was Hwang’s second Olympic medal, having won silver in the 2018 500 m, while Yelistratov retained the bronze he had also won in PyeongChang.