WARSAW, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's Kim Min Seok beat Chinese speed skater Ning Zhongyan by just 0.03 seconds to win the 1,500m Men Division A at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland on Saturday.
Kim crossed the line in one minute and 45:188 seconds, while American Joey Mantia finished third in 1:46.388.
Despite a near miss from the title, Ning was happy to start the season this way.
"I haven't been racing at international level for about 20 months. This is the first competition and I just want to find my style again. I really love to be back on the road again. It feels great to be on the podium and it looks good for the future World Cups," Ning was quoted as saying by the official site of the competition.
The 22-year-old hopes to meet the expectations during next year's Winter Olympics in Beijing.
"We've got the Olympics in my home country. From now on there are only 80 days left. So we will do all we can to perform well in Beijing", Ning added.
In the 1,000m Women Division B, China's Han Mei also finished with a silver medal by 1:17.241, 0.92 seconds behind Yekaterina Aydova from Kazakhstan.
Erin Jackson from the United States set a new track record to win the second 500m Women Division A Race with 37.555 seconds ahead of Angelika Golikova from Russia and the Japanese Nao Kodaira.
The final race of the men's Mass Start turned out to be a great performance by Masahito Obayashi from Japan. He was timed 7:56.910 to beat Ruslan Zakharov from Russia and the Pole Zbigniew Brodka.
Sunday will be the final day of the competitions in Tomaszow Mazowiecki. Enditem