Charles Hamelin wins two medals in short-track speedskating World Cup event

SHANGHAI – Charles Hamelin won a gold and a silver medal on Saturday at the first ISU short-track speedskating World Cup event of the season.

Hamelin, from Levis, Que.,won gold in the 500-metre event in 40.803 seconds. Russia’s Vladimir Grigorev was second (40.888), while American Eduardo Alvarez took bronze in 41.308.

South Korea’s Jinkyu Noh took first in the 1500-metre race in two minutes 14.982 seconds. Hamelin was right behind him, earning silver in 2:14.998. Russia’s Victor An was third (2:15.110).

Francois Hamelin (2:22.598), Charles’s brother, won bronze in the 1500’s Final B. Russia’s Semen Elistratov won the event (2:22.232) with Japan’s Ryosuke Sakazume placing second (2:22.523).

In women’s competition, Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., placed second in the Final B of the 1500-metre race with a time of 2:36.617. China’s Jianrou Li (2:36.553) and Xue Kong (2:36.905) took first and third respectively.

Marianne St-Gelais of Roberval, Que., won the bronze medal in the 500 metre’s Final A in 43.715 seconds. China’s Kexin Fan was first in 43.541 and South Korea’s Seung-Hi Park took silver in 43.614.

Jessica Hewitt (2:23.422) of Kamloops, B.C., was fifth in the 1500-metre Final A. Korea’s Suk Hee Shim won gold (2:21.511), followed by countryman Alang Kim (2:21.575) and Jorien Ter Mors of the Netherlands in 2:21.836.