Sun Long secures silver medal in 1000m sprint finish

China's short-track speed skater Sun Long has delivered a timely redemption by winning a silver medal in the men's 1,000 meters at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday, just two days after a costly error denied Team China a medal in the mixed relay.

In an electrifying Final A featuring three world champions, Sun, Canada's William Dandjinou and Jens van't Wout of the Netherlands, the Chinese two-time Olympian kept his patience behind hot favorite Dandjinou before launching a fierce attack in the final lap alongside Dutch skater Van't Wout.

In a frenetic fight to the finish, Dandjinou got caught in the middle of the chasing pack through the final corner, overtaken by Van't Wout and Sun, who crossed the line almost simultaneously, forcing officials to rely on a photo finish to determine the winner.

Van't Wout edged Sun by a hair's breadth in a time of one minute and 24.537 seconds, with Sun finishing merely 0.028 seconds behind. South Korea's Rim Jong-un rounded out the podium in third place after clocking 1:24.611, while Dandjinou settled for fourth in 1:24.671.

China's Liu Shaoang placed sixth overall after dominating Final B, where skaters who finished from 6th-10th in the semifinals competed for their rankings, while China's third skater Lin Xiaojun failed to advance to the semis and finished 17th.

An emotional Sun, draped in his national flag, wept tears of joy and relief as he celebrated the hard-fought medal with his coach and teammates, shaking off the gloom that had overshadowed the team since its disappointing fourth-place finish in Tuesday's mixed 2,000m relay.

As the defending champion in the event, Team China missed out on the podium due to a final-lap error by Sun.

"You need to learn from the setback and come back stronger, so that you can approach the following races as competitively and confidently as you can, I did that today," said the 25-year-old native of Jilin province.

"The near-miss at the finishing line was a little bit of a regret. I should've extended my foot (to touch the line), but this is short-track speed skating. Everything is possible and it all happens in the blink of an eye," added Sun, the 1,500m world championships winner in 2024.

"I made a mistake in the mixed relay when I got impatient and lost control. So today I told myself to stay as calm as possible."

Sun's 1,000m silver marked the Chinese team's first medal at the Milano-Cortina Games, after none of its three women advanced to the 500m Final A earlier on Thursday.

The decorated team's quest for gold will continue on Saturday, when Sun, Liu and Lin compete in the men's 1,500m quarterfinals.