Short track speed skaters take to Olympic ice

The first of five days of short track speed skating events got underway Saturday at the PyeongChang Olympic Games.

Besides some preliminary qualification races, the sport’s first medals of the Games were be presented in the men’s 1500m.

Host country South Korea got its first gold of the games as Hyo-jun Lim won held on to win with a time of 2:10.485. Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands was a close second, taking the silver 0.07 behind Lim. And, Russian Semyon Elistratov took the bronze finishing 0.202 behind the gold medal winner.

The U.S. had three competitors in the competition at Gangneung Ice Arena.

Aaron Tran, a 21-year-old from Washington state, is competing in his first Olympics, having finished second in the men’s 500m and third overall at the team trials. Tran made it as far as the Final B race, but did not qualify for the medals race.

John-Henry Krueger, a 22-year-old Pittsburgh native, and J.R. Celski, a 27-year-old Monterey, did not advance to the final rounds.