South Korea's Pyeongchang gold medallist Choi Min Jeong was fastest qualifier for the women's 1500m semi-finals in the ISU Short Track World Cup ©Getty Images

Reigning Olympic champion Choi Min Jeong laid down a marker today at the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Almaty.

Choi reached the women's 1500m semi-finals at at the Halyk Arena - built recently for the 2017 Winter Universiade - with the fastest time of the day as she clocked 2min 36.211sec.

China’s Olympic silver medallist Li Jinyu also moved through, along with Canada’s Olympic 1,500m bronze medallist, 1,000m silver medallist Kim Boutin and Suzanne Schulting, the reigning Olympic gold medallist in the women’s 1,000m event.

Schulting also moved safely through to the quarter-finals of her paramount event.

Suzanne Schulting, the Dutch Olympic 1000m champion, had a successful opening day at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Almaty ©Getty Images
Suzanne Schulting, the Dutch Olympic 1000m champion, had a successful opening day at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Almaty ©Getty Images

The Dutch skater won her heat in 1:34.492 and will be joined in the next round by fellow countrywoman Rianne de Vries, who also won her heat.

South Korea provided three heat winners in Shim Suk-hee, Kim Ji Yoo and Noh Ah Rum.

Boutin also won her heat in 1:33.244. 

Hungary’s Olympic 500m silver medallist Yara van Kerkhof was one of heat winners at her specialist event, clocking 43.547sec, although the fastest time of the night came from Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska, who recorded 43.291.

In the men’s competition, Canada’s 1000m Olympic champion Samuel Girard and South Korea’s Lim Hyo-jun were both heat winners in the 500m and 1500m events.

Action in Almaty, which lost out to Beijing in the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, continues tomorrow.