Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Men's 1500 metres
# Short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres in short track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics took place at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, South Korea.

In the victory ceremony, the medals were presented by Irena Szewińska, member of the International Olympic Committee, accompanied by Myong-Hi Chang, ISU honorary member.

## History

South Korea has historically performed well in short-track speed skating, with 42 of their 53 medals coming from the event.

## Event

There were 12,000 spectators for the event.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

| World record | Sjinkie Knegt (NED) | 2:07.943 | Salt Lake City, United States | 13 November 2016 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Lee Jung-su (KOR) | 2:10.949 | Vancouver, Canada | 13 February 2010 |

One Olympic record was set during the competition.

| Date | Round | Athlete | Country | Time | Record | Ref |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 February 2018 | Final A | Lim Hyo-jun | South Korea | 2:10.485 | OR | |

## Results

### Heats

    Q – qualified for the semifinals
    ADV – advanced
    PEN – penalty

| Rank | Heat | Name | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Sándor Liu Shaolin | Hungary | 2:12.835 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Samuel Girard | Canada | 2:12.923 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Semion Elistratov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 2:13.087 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Hiroki Yokoyama | Japan | 2:13.323 | |
| 5 | 1 | Ward Pétré | Belgium | 2:17.362 | |
| | 1 | Farrell Treacy | Great Britain | DNF | |
| 1 | 2 | Charles Hamelin | Canada | 2:12.130 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Jens Almey | Belgium | 2:12.998 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Aaron Tran | United States | 2:14.133 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Andy Jung | Australia | 2:16.995 | ADV |
| 5 | 2 | Han Tianyu | China | 2:38.865 | ADV |
| | 2 | Yuri Confortola | Italy | | PEN |
| 1 | 3 | Hwang Dae-heon | South Korea | 2:15.561 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Itzhak de Laat | Netherlands | 2:15.691 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Wu Dajing | China | 2:15.823 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Tommaso Dotti | Italy | 2:16.177 | |
| 5 | 3 | Pascal Dion | Canada | 2:16.856 | ADV |
| 6 | 3 | Choe Un-song | North Korea | 2:18.213 | |
| | 3 | Vladislav Bykanov | Israel | | PEN |
| 1 | 4 | Lim Hyo-jun | South Korea | 2:13.891 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Sébastien Lepape | France | 2:13.965 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Shaoang Liu | Hungary | 2:14.160 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Denis Nikisha | Kazakhstan | 2:14.847 | |
| 5 | 4 | Maksim Siarheyeu | Belarus | 2:15.242 | |
| | 4 | Kazuki Yoshinaga | Japan | | PEN |
| 1 | 5 | Seo Yi-ra | South Korea | 2:18.750 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Roberto Puķītis | Latvia | 2:18.825 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | J. R. Celski | United States | 2:19.028 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Keita Watanabe | Japan | 2:19.205 | |
| 5 | 5 | Csaba Burján | Hungary | 2:19.284 | |
| 6 | 5 | Aleksandr Shulginov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 2:19.308 | |
| 1 | 6 | John-Henry Krueger | United States | 2:15.671 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Thibaut Fauconnet | France | 2:15.768 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Sjinkie Knegt | Netherlands | 2:15.949 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Pavel Sitnikov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 2:33.653 | |
| 5 | 6 | Xu Hongzhi | China | 2:35.641 | ADV |
| 6 | 6 | Nurbergen Zhumagaziyev | Kazakhstan | DNF | |

### Semifinals

    QA – qualified for Final A
    QB – qualified for Final B
    ADV – advanced
    PEN – penalty

| Rank | Heat | Name | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Semion Elistratov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 2:11.003 | QA |
| 2 | 1 | Charles Hamelin | Canada | 2:11.124 | QA |
| 3 | 1 | Seo Yi-ra | South Korea | 2:11.126 | QB |
| 4 | 1 | Roberto Puķītis | Latvia | 2:11.165 | QB |
| 5 | 1 | Andy Jung | Australia | 2:11.183 | |
| 6 | 1 | Samuel Girard | Canada | DNF | ADV |
| | 1 | J. R. Celski | United States | | PEN |
| 1 | 2 | Sjinkie Knegt | Netherlands | 2:11.900 | QA |
| 2 | 2 | Thibaut Fauconnet | France | 2:12.049 | QA |
| 3 | 2 | Pascal Dion | Canada | 2:12.640 | QB |
| 4 | 2 | Aaron Tran | United States | 2:13.487 | QB |
| 5 | 2 | Sándor Liu Shaolin | Hungary | 2:45.709 | ADV |
| 6 | 2 | Jens Almey | Belgium | DNF | |
| | 2 | John-Henry Krueger | United States | | PEN |
| 1 | 3 | Lim Hyo-jun | South Korea | 2:11.389 | QA |
| 2 | 3 | Hwang Dae-heon | South Korea | 2:11.469 | QA |
| 3 | 3 | Itzhak de Laat | Netherlands | 2:11.781 | ADV |
| 4 | 3 | Han Tianyu | China | 2:11.827 | QB |
| 5 | 3 | Sébastien Lepape | France | 2:11.967 | |
| 6 | 3 | Xu Hongzhi | China | 2:19.310 | |
| | 3 | Shaoang Liu | Hungary | | PEN |
| | 3 | Wu Dajing | China | | PEN |

### Finals

**Final B (classification round)**

In this race, six skaters race for placement.

| Rank | Name | Country | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| 8 | Han Tianyu | China | 2:26.281 |
| 9 | Seo Yi-ra | South Korea | 2:26.346 |
| 10 | Pascal Dion | Canada | 2:26.412 |
| 11 | Roberto Puķītis | Latvia | 2:26.525 |
| 12 | Aaron Tran | United States | 2:27.127 |

**Final A (medal round)**

In the final heat of the event, Hwang Dae-heon collided with Thibaut Fauconnet, with Fauconnet receiving a skate to the face. Defending champion Charles Hamelin did not finish the race. South Korean Lim Hyo-jun finished in first winning by about two blade lengths. He followed closely by Sjinkie Knegt and Semion Elistratov, finishing in second and third respectively. Lim said, "I was nervous in the preliminaries but I liked the quality of the ice. I knew if I made it to the final I had good chances".

The official podium ceremony was the next day, but there was a venue ceremony at the event. The competitors were presented with a plush-tiger Soohorang, one of the Olympic mascots.

| Rank | Name | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Lim Hyo-jun | South Korea | 2:10.485 | OR |
| | Sjinkie Knegt | Netherlands | 2:10.555 | |
| | Semion Elistratov | Olympic Athletes from Russia | 2:10.687 | |
| 4 | Samuel Girard | Canada | 2:11.176 | |
| 5 | Sándor Liu Shaolin | Hungary | 2:11.520 | |
| 6 | Itzhak de Laat | Netherlands | 2:12.362 | |
| 7 | Thibaut Fauconnet | France | 2:53.150 | |
| 13 | Charles Hamelin | Canada | | PEN |
| 14 | Hwang Dae-heon | South Korea | DNF | |
