S. Korean Sin Da-woon wins overall title at short track world championships

South Korean Sin Da-woon was crowned the men's overall champion at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sunday.

Sin earned 89 total points by winning two races and finishing second in another one at the annual event. His compatriot Kim Yun-jae scored 55 points to finish second in the overall standings.

Sin won the men's 1,000 meters on Sunday with a time of 1:30.374, beating out Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands. This was Sin's second title of this year's world championships, after his 1,500ｍ gold medal on Friday. Later Sunday, Sin finished second in the 3,000ｍ superfinal behind Kim.

The world championships award skaters points based on their finishes in individual races. Winners earn 34 points, runners-up 21 points and third-place skaters 13 points, and so forth. The top eight skaters in points after 500ｍ, 1,000ｍ and 1,500ｍ qualify for the 3,000ｍ superfinal.

Sin held a comfortable 34-point cushion over Liang Wenhao of China before the superfinal, and cruised to his first overall title by earning 21 points with the second-place finish in the superfinal.

Kim, who began the superfinal fifth overall with 21 points, jumped into second place behind Sin by winning the superfinal.

South Korea has now produced 10 of the past 11 men's overall champions.

In the women's competition, Park Seung-hi and Shim Suk-hee ended in second and third places overall, with 58 points and 55 points, respectively. Wang Meng of China took the overall title with 68 points, on the strength of her victories in the 500ｍ and 1,000ｍ.

Park won the 1,500ｍ on Friday and picked up silver in the 500ｍ on Saturday but couldn't make it past the semifinals of the 1,000ｍ on Sunday. Shim won the 1,500ｍ silver on Friday and won the superfinal race on Sunday.

Heading into the superfinal, Wang held a 13-point edge over Park. Late in the superfinal race, Wang appeared to deliberately push Park aside, causing her to crash into a wall, when the South Korean tried to skate past the Chinese. Wang might have been trying to prevent Park from scoring enough points to overtake her.

Wang was penalized for her action and didn't earn any points, but Park herself ended the superfinal in sixth place and couldn't beat Wang in the overall standings.

South Korea was shut out of relay medals on Sunday. The men's 5,000ｍ relay team was disqualified in the final despite finishing the race first, after a mid-race collision with Canada.

In the women's 3,000ｍ relay, South Korea finished fourth behind China, Canada and Japan. South Korea lost the lead when Choi Ji-hyun was taken down by a Chinese skater, but no penalty was called on China.

South Korea ended this year's world championships with five gold, four silver and one bronze medals. (Yonhap News)