5,000 metres Relay, Men

The semi-finals of the event saw South Korea, always one of the title favorites, eliminated. Min Ryong crashed out of the race with Rusty Smith and was disqualified for that, although it appeared that Smith’s elbow had caused the Korean to fall. Outside of the South Koreans, all the favorites made the final, which featured Canada, China, the United States and Italy.

The race was somewhat of an anti-climax, though. Except for the Canadians, all the teams saw one of their skaters fall, making it easy for the North Americans to defend their title. The Canadians had a five-second gap over the Italians that placed second, had eight seconds on the Chinese, and even lapped the Americans that finished last in the final. For Canada, it was a successful night of short track, as team members Marc Gagnon and Jonathan Guilmette had placed 1-2 in the 500 m final earlier in the evening.