5,000 metres Relay, Men

With all eight nations seeing themselves capable of winning a medal in the event, the semi-finals were already a tense affair. Home favorites China seemed to be eliminated in the first heat, after a fall of Li Wenlong. Only after a lengthy referee review were they advanced to the final – a rare occurrence in short-track without another team being disqualified. Defending gold medalist Hungary were outpaced in the second heat, as Korea, ROC, and Netherlands battled it out for the top-two spots. Reigning World Champions Netherlands were leading with two laps to go, but were passed by Korea and, on the line by ROC, missing the final by a mere 0.002 seconds.

The five-team final saw Korea lead the way most of the first half of the race, but with all teams still in close contention. At 18 laps, Gwak made a slight misstep, leaving room for Canada to gain first place. Sitting behind Korea in third, China’s Sun Long lost his balance fell, leaving the Chinese with no chance of a medal. The fall left a gap between Canada/Korea and ROC/Italy, which was never closed again. The Koreans made a few attempts to regain the lead, but Canada powered away in the end to win their fourth gold in the event. It was also the fourth Olympic gold for Charles Hamelin, making him only the fourth short-track skater to achieve this, after Viktor An, Wang Meng and Jeon I-Gyeong.

The decision for bronze only came at the finish line, with Pietro Sighel taking the medal for Italy, stretching his leg 0.009 ahead of ROC.