Over 3500 spectators gathered to watch the 2006 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships and cheer for their favorite athletes.
Minneapolis hosted the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships March 31-April 2, 2006. Skaters posted 54 personal best scores, and Korea's powerhouse suffered a surprising relay DQ that left the top men's 5000 relay final team spots up for grabs.
In the end, the top three teams were separated by about two seconds. Canada's Jonathan Guilmette, Charles Hamelin, Francois-Louis Tremblay and Mathieu Turcotte captured the gold. The Chinese team took home silver medals, thanks to Ye Li, Hoanan Li, Baoku Sui and Liang Cui. The US men's team of J.P. Kepka, Jordan Malone, Alex Izykowski and Anthony Lobello won the bronze.
The top of the women's 3000 meter team relay leader board looked very similar to the men's. During that race, the Chinese women finished only 141secondths of a point faster than the Canadians. China's women, Meng Wang, Tianyu Fu, Xiaolei Cheng, and Mile Zhu, posted a final time of 4:17.194. Alanna Kraus, Kalyna Roberge, Tania Vincent and Amanda Overland just missed gold medals with a final score of 4:17.335 for Canada. The Italian women's team captured the silver, while Korea was good enough for fourth place.
Also at this competition, overall titles were decided. Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn and Ho-Suk Lee defended their titles by placing first and second respectively. The Canadian pairing of Francois-Louis Tremblay and Charles Hamelin skated into the third and fourth positions. China's Hoanan Li rounded out the top five men.
Sun-Yu Jin, won the overall ladies title for Korea. Chinese skater Meng Wang captured the silver overall medal, while Canada's Kalyna Roberge took home the bronze overall medal. Tianyu Fu of China and Allison Baver of the USA placed fourth and fifth.
