Olympic winner Wu stopped at short track speed skating worlds

SOFIA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Olympic winner Wu Dajing was stopped in both men's 1,500 meters and 1,000 meters on Friday as the 2019 Short Track Speed Skating World Championships reeled off in Sofia, Bulgaria.

During the men's 1,500 meters quarterfinals, the first in the three-day world-class skating, Wu, whom ISU tipped as the short track "Speed King", only finished sixth in his group in 2:22.734 to be eliminated.

And his nightmare continued as he was disqualified from men's 1,000 meters quarterfinals due to a penalty. His teammate Ren Ziwei becomes the lone Chinese left on the rink of semifinals.

The men's 500 meters is the last individual event that Wu competed in as he made it to the quarterfinals in 41.912 seconds, while his arch rival Lim Hyo Jun from South Korea suffered an upset in the first round.

In women's 1,500 meters quarterfinals, the world champion Fan Kexin finished third in the group in two minutes and 46.606 seconds, trailing behind Olympic champion Suzanne Schulting and Christie Elise of Britain, to enter the next round along with Chinese skater Zang Yize, who finished in 2:48.558.

In addition, Fan and teammates Zang Yize and Qu Chunyu all powered into the women's 1,000m and 500m quarterfinals.