3 February. Speed skating. Men. 1 000 meters:
1. Cha Minkyu (South Korea) – 1:09.56
2. Martijn van Oosten (Netherlands) – 1:10.12
3. Ryu Kosaka (Japan) – 1:10.58
Men who ran today 1 000 meters distance started in the fog but by the end of the competition the weather got better. 43 athletes from 17 countries competed for awards. The main battle took place between the representatives from Asia and the Dutch speed skater Martijn van Oosten who earlier won the silver medal on 1 500 meters. As a result the best result was shown by South Korean athlete Cha Minky who won the gold medal on the 1 of February in 500 meters sprint. Van Oosten became the second again (+0.56sec) and on the third place was the Japanese speed skater Ryu Kosaka +1.02sec).
Note that speed skaters continue to achieve new achievements of “Medeo”. Owned by Russian Pavel Popov rink record was set in 1983 and equaled 1: 12.58 minutes.
After the end of the competition medalists shared their impressions:
Cha Minkyu:
- I am very happy that I won the second gold medal at the Universiade.
Martijn van Oosten:
- Of course, it would be desirable if the sun was shining, but all the athletes were in the same conditions and it was fair. It's my best result of the season, and, in fact, it is very high.
Ryu Kosaka:
- I was lucky because I started as soon as the ice was prepared. I never thought that I could win a medal today.
