Home favourite Martina Valcepina came out on top in the women’s 500 metres event as action continued today at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Turin ©Getty Images

Home favourite Martina Valcepina came out on top in the women’s 500 metres event as action continued today at the International Skating Union Short Track World Cup in Turin.

The double relay Olympic medallist was a big hope for hosts Italy and delivered the goods with a time of 43.942sec in the A final at the Tazzoli Ice Rink.

Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska, the current 500m World Cup leader, finished second in 43.966, while triple Olympic medallist Kim Boutin of Canada came third in 44.184.

In the men’s 500m event, South Korea’s Hwang Dae Heon triumphed in 41.128 with Hungary’s Shaolin Sándor Liu, the 5,000m relay Olympic champion, second in 41.225 and Canada’s Cedrik Blais third in 1:07.939.

Blais finished fourth but was promoted to the podium after team-mate Samuel Girard was penalised for a push from behind that caused his fellow countryman to fall during the race.

The Netherlands’ Suzanne Schulting, the 1,000m Olympic champion, tasted victory in the women’s 1,500m event.

She prevailed with a time of 2:24.991 with South Korea’s Kim Ji Yoo second in 2:25.062 and Germany’s Anna Seidel third in 2:25.193.

The men’s 1,500m event saw World Cup leader Kim Gun Woo lead a South Korean one-two finish ahead of Hong Kyung Hwan.

Kim clocked a time of 2:12.823 to beat his compatriot by a margin of 0.404 seconds.

Rounding out the podium was Canada’s Steven Dubois in 2:13.309.

Action in Turin is set to conclude tomorrow.

Medals will be awarded in the second 500m events, the 1,000m competitions and the relays.