Choi begins ISU World Cup campaign in style with victory on opening day in Montreal

Choi Min-jeong began the ISU World Cup season in style by winning the women's 1500m race ©Getty Images

Reigning short-track world champion Choi Min-jeong of South Korea began the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup season in ominous fashion as she claimed victory in the women’s 1000 metres race during the opening event of the campaign in Montreal, Canada.

The formidable South Korean, who claimed four golds at the ISU World Championships in Moscow in March of this year, clocked 1min 32.113sec to finish ahead of three-times Olympic silver medallist Marianne St-Gelais of Canada.

China’s Kexin Fan came through to take third as she finished in a time of 1:33.176.

Yui Sakai of Japan had led the race in the early stages but was passed by Fan at the midway point, before Choi seized the initiative with three laps to go and held on to record a comfortable victory.

It proved to be a fruitful day for the Korean team as Choi’s compatriot Suk Hee Shim took the women’s 1500m honours by recording a time of 2:25.260.

Canada were again forced to settle for second as Kim Boutin came through to clinch silver, while German Anna Seidel did enough to earn bronze, her first-ever World Cup medal.

Kwak Yoon-gy, overall world champion in 2012, then completed a hat-trick for the Korean team as he won the men’s 1500m event, powering home in 2:16.78 after he had stolen the lead from Dutchman Sjinkie Knegt on the last lap.

Kwak Yoon-gy made it a hat-trick of wins for South Korea by reigning supreme in the men's 1500m race ©Getty Images

Knegt held on for second, while China’s Fu Xu narrowly edged out Patrick Duffy of Canada for the final spot on the podium.

China’s Han Tianyu, silver medallist at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, was also victorious on the opening day as he clocked 1:28.010 to win the men’s 1000m event to oust compatriot Shi Jingnan, who was second with 1:28.146.

Bronze went to Russia’s Artem Kozlov, who managed to hold on to third place by clocking 1:28.395.

Action in the Canadian city continues tomorrow with the men’s and women’s 500m races and the second lot of 1000m events.

Canada, China, South Korea and Russia will battle it out for gold in the women’s 3000m relay, while China, Hungary, South Korea and the Netherlands will compete in the men’s 5000m relay.