Qu took the lead midway through the race and never looked back, winning with a time of 43.827sec.

South Korea’s Yubin Lee finished second, while Qu’s compatriot Yize Zang came third ahead of The Netherlands' Suzanne Schulting, who won the women’s 1,500m event today. 

Schulting took the lead with three laps to go, overtaking Zang who ended up receiving a penalty in the race.

Despite matching Schulting’s time of 2min 32.532sec, South Korea’s Suyoun Lee finished in second place ahead of Qu, who was third.

Qu’s tally of 47 points in the classification puts her five clear of Schulting after two individual events with Lee a further 20 behind.

China’s Hongzhi Xu and South Korea’s Yongjin Lim share the lead in the men’s classification after winning the 500m and 1,500m events respectively.

Xu crossed the 500m line in first place, clocking a time of 41.558 to condemn Hungary’s Shaoang Liu to second spot.

Canada’s Steven Dubois finished in third place, while his team-mate Maxime Laoun was fourth.

Lim took the lead with five laps to go in the 1,500m race and triumphed with a time of 2:29.887.

China’s Ziwei Ren crossed the line in second place ahead of South Korea’s Si Un Kim, who finished third.

A photo finish review was required to confirm the results as less than 0.90 seconds separated positions two to six.

Xu and Lim both have 34 points in the classification with Liu their nearest challenger on 23.

Racing is due to resume tomorrow with the men’s and women’s 1,000m finals, 1,500m super finals and the relay finals.

The men’s relay final features teams from Japan, Russia Korea and China, while the equivalent women’s showdown includes sides from South Korea, China, The Netherlands and Poland.