LUI Pan To Barton has completed his Olympic Journey with 5th place in Heat of Men Short Track Speed Skating 1500m
LUI Pan To Barton, the only athlete in Hong Kong, China delegation, ranked 5th in his Heat group, he did not qualify for Semifinals, and finished his Olympic Journey.
1500m is the longest distance in Olympic Winter Games Short Track Speed Skating individual competition. World record is 2:09.041, which was held by NOH Jin-Kyu from Republic of Korea. LUI Pan To Barton’s Starting Position is 5 in his Heat group, beside PARK Se Yeong, the two times World Junior Champion, fresh senior competitor without world ranking, Barton has the lowest world ranking among 6 athletes in his group, which is 47th. Undoubtedly the strongest opponent in this group is AN Victor (AHN Hyun-Soo), ranked third in the world, who won three gold medals and one bronze medal in 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino for Republic of Korea, and competing for Russia in this Games. Chinese young athlete Han Tianyu (world ranking 13th) and Winter Universiade gold medalist Hungarian athlete KNOCH Viktor (world ranking 19th) are also very strong.
In two minutes, thirteen laps race will be skated on 111.12m track; it is a very physical demanding sport. Almost no athlete can use full speed from the very beginning all the will till the end to keep 50km/h average speed with intense body contact. Most athletes will use different rhythm, speed and physical distribution through starting phase, middle phase and sprint phase, and use various strategies such as “instant acceleration”, “leading suppress” or “trailing” to get advantage from disrupting the opponents’ plan and win the race.
Racing strategy for LUI Pan To Barton from Mr. LU Shuo, Head coach of Hong Kong Team, is “Keep following the group and seek for opportunities for passing.\” Barton executed the strategy well, he followed behind all other athletes in his group after race had started. Barton speed up and got leading position during 3rd lap, but BYKANOV Vladislav from Israel competed with Barton for the leading position to control the rhythm of whole group. Barton and Vladislav alternating the leading position twice till AN Victor began to increase the racing speed by instant acceleration after 2 laps. Barton tried to block other athlete by his racing route, but his injured calf muscle cannot fully stabilize his body. Barton tried his best in the remaining laps however remained the same position before reach the finish line. Barton finish heats with 5th place in his group with result 2:22.139, and failed to meet qualifying criteria which is top three in his group. That was the first and last competition of Hong Kong, China delegation in XXII Olympic Winter Games. LUI Pan To Barton placed 30th in the Final Ranking of this competition, HAMELIN Charles from Canada won the gold medal.
After the race, LU Shuo, Head Coach of Hong Kong Team, said:\” Although Barton failed to qualify today, his performance during the race is good for a rookie of Olympic Winter Games. I hope he has accumulated Olympic experience, and prepare for his next Olympic Winter Games.\”