South Korea’s Choi Min Jeong claimed the women’s 500 metres and 1,500m titles on the second day of action at the 2018 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Montreal ©Getty Images

South Korea’s Choi Min Jeong claimed the women’s 500 and 1,500 metres titles on the second day of action at the 2018 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Montreal.

The 19-year-old started by winning the 1,500m A final in a time of 2min 23.351sec at the Maurice-Richard Arena.

She beat home favourite Kim Boutin, who finished third in 2:23.592, and compatriot Shim Suk Hee, the silver medallist in 2:23.468, to top the podium.

South Korea nearly made it a clean sweep of medals with Kim A Lang coming fourth, just behind Boutin.

Choi then won the 500m gold medal ahead of Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska, who matched her best-ever finish in any international competition and her highest finish in a World Championship event.

The winning time was 42.845sec with Maliszewska clocking 43.441.

China’s Qu Chunyu earned the bronze medal in 43.527, edging out Canada’s Jamie MacDonald.

Boutin led early on but fell with three laps to go.

Choi showed little sign of tiredness, despite minimal preparation time due to the quick turnaround from her home Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, where she won gold medals in the 1,500m and 3,000m relay.

"Today, I’m very, very happy," she said.

"Five hundred metres is a hard distance but I got good results."

Canada's Charles Hamelin came out on top in the men's 1,500m event ©Getty Images
Canada's Charles Hamelin came out on top in the men's 1,500m event ©Getty Images

There was further success for South Korea in the men’s 500m as Hwang Dae Heon came out on top in 40.742.

The 18-year-old kept a tight rein on China’s Ren Ziwei throughout the A Final, sitting on the leader’s shoulder until the final lap when he glided past on the outside to leave the pack in his wake.

Ren had to settle for the silver medal in 40.805.

Russia’s Semen Elistratov was stuck in fourth place until the final turn but won bronze in 40.827 thanks to a sharp push at the end.

He edged out another Chinese athlete, Xu Hongzhi, by 0.010 seconds.

In the men’s 1,500m event, Charles Hamelin delighted the home crowd by taking victory in 2:12.982.

Olympic gold medallist Lim Hyo Jun of South Korea led most of the way but Hamelin bided his time before making his move with two laps to go to win his 10th World Championships gold and 33rd medal overall.

Lim came away with the silver medal in 2:13.157.

Hungary’s Liu Shaolin Sandor was in medal contention for much of the race until a late push by Elistratov moved the Russian into the bronze medal position, finishing in 2:13.312. 

Defending champion Seo Yi Ra of South Korea missed out on the A Final after coming fourth in his semi-final heat.

Action in Montreal is due to conclude tomorrow.