Winter Olympics: China's Li avoids pile-up for 'miracle' 500m gold

SOCHI - Li Jianrou escaped an early pile-up to coast to victory in the women's 500 meters short track speed skating on Thursday, extending China's winning streak at the distance to a fourth Winter Games.

The 27-year-old first-time Olympian eased home after her rivals collided just behind her and slid into the boards on the second turn of the all-out sprint.

Elise Christie of Britain finished second but was denied the silver medal as officials blamed her for causing the other skaters to crash. With Christie disqualified, Italy's Arianna Fontana took silver and Park Seung-hi of South Korea bronze.

Tears of joy flowed from Li and her coach, who hugged each other after the race.

"It's a miracle," an ecstatic Li told reporters. "I'm lucky to get this gold medal."

After the wipeout, Li's competitors scrambled to continue the race but had no chance of making up the gap.

A despondent Christie said she had been "bumped" by one of the other skaters.

"I'm very sad. I did everything I could," Christie told reporters. "I didn't want to be in third position and get passed at the end.

"I tried to win the race ... I tried to pass and got bumped by the girl on the outside [Fontana]."

The 23-year-old said she would now try to regain her focus for the 1,000m - her main event - when she has another shot at becoming Britain's first gold medalist in short track.

"I still have almost a week before my main competition, but I will need at least a day to get over it," she said.

Li was a replacement for her four-time Olympic champion Wang Meng, who was forced to miss the Sochi Games due to injury.

"My coach told me that the medal was for Wang Meng as well," Li said. "I was very moved."

In the unruly and explosive sprint that resembles roller derby on ice, China's gold-medal favorite Fan Kexin did not even get through the first lap of the semifinals before she tripped and went flying, failing to qualify for the podium skate-off.

Another favorite in the distance, Canadian Marianne St-Gelais, who won silver in Vancouver behind Wang four years ago, missed out on the medal race after remaining in third throughout her semifinal.

Park's disappointing third-place finish for South Korea was compounded when the men's relay team missed out on the A final after Lee Ho-suk brought down American Eduardo Alvarez, who crashed into the padded barriers in the first semi final.

"It was a tough day for the Korean team. The boys were not lucky and I was not lucky, either," Park told reporters.

South Korea missed out on a place in the men's 5000m relay after Lee Ho-suk brought down American Eduardo Alvarez in the semifinals.

The Netherlands and Kazakhstan finished first and second to automatically book their places in the final, while Russia and China joined them by placing first and second in the other semi.

The United States team also advanced to the final after officials ruled they had been impeded by the South Koreans.

"We were trying to protect our position. I'm just thankful we're moving forward," said Alvarez.

"Extremely relieved. It wasn't a very good three minutes [waiting for referee review]. Very stressful."

The home crowd reserved their loudest cheers for South-Korean born Viktor Ahn, who not only led his adopted country into the relay final but kept himself in the running for a medal in the men's 1,000m event.

The 1,000m will give Ahn a chance at a rematch against Canada's Charles Hamelin, who eclipsed the veteran skater to win the 1,500m gold earlier in the week. - Reuters