Elise Christie had to make do with sixth in her first final at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Hungary after a fall with two laps to go in the 1500m medal showdown.
Christie, who claimed the World Cup title in the 1000m this season, won both her heat and semi-final in the 1500m in Debrecen to reach the final, where she was the only European entrant.
However the 22-year-old, who won gold over the distance at the European Championships in January as well as in the 1000m for second overall, couldn’t work her way onto the podium.
She led from the start but fell in a tussle with two laps to go before finishing in sixth place in 2:59.703minutes as Park Seung-Hi, who won the 1500m, 3000m and overall world titles in 2010, took gold.
Christie still has the 500m and 1000m to come but was the only British finalist on day one with Charlotte Gilmartin, who won bronze in the 1500m at the European Championships, being penalised in her semi-final.
Two-time Olympian Jon Eley didn’t make it out of the heats of men’s 1500m but Paul Stanley put up a fight to just get edged out at the semi-final stage as Sin Da Woon completed a Korean double.
It was also a Korean one-two in both races as Kim Yun-Jae collected silver behind Sin, who clocked a winning time of 2:27.062, with another Canadian in the shape of Charles Hamelin in third.
And to complete a fine first day for Korea, their ladies’ 3000m relay team was the fastest of the qualifiers out of the semi-finals clocking 4:15.233 with China, Japan Canada and joining them in the medal race.
© Sportsbeat 2013