Short track team world championships 2003

The 2003 team world championships in the short track took place from March 15 to 16, 2003 in Sofia . It was the first team title competition to be held in the Bulgarian capital, but the individual world championships had already taken place there in 1999 . The host was the International Skating Union (ISU).

Teams from ten different countries took part. Among the women, South Korea surprisingly prevailed over the favored Chinese women. Behind them Italy was able to win the bronze medal in front of Canada by winning the relay race. In the men's category, Canada won just ahead of South Korea, while the Chinese team came third.

Regulations

There were seven teams for women and eight for men with a maximum of five athletes. The seven and eight teams were divided into two groups. The first team in each group qualified directly for the final, the second and third placed team for the round of hope, the fourth placed team was eliminated. The first two teams in the round of hope also made it to the final, while the third and fourth placed teams were eliminated. The runs of the preliminary round groups and the round of hope were completed on the first day of the competition, the final on the second.

Over 500 m and 1000 m, an athlete from one country competed against each other in four runs. There was only one run over 3000 m, with two athletes from each country. Four runners from one country started in the relay. In each individual race, the first received five points, the second three points, the third two points and the fourth one point. Twice as many points were awarded in the season, ten for the first season, six for the second, four for the third and two for the fourth. No point was awarded in the event of a disqualification. The addition of all points of the athletes of a country decided on the placement.

Results

Women

In the first group of the preliminary round, China prevailed confidently and reached the final. South Korea and Italy entered the repechage, while the Russian team was eliminated. The second preliminary group was dominated by Canada's women, who made it straight to the finals. Behind them, Bulgaria and the USA reached the hope round, the Netherlands narrowly eliminated. In the hope round, South Korea and Italy prevailed and also reached the final, Bulgaria and the USA were eliminated.

rank	country	Runners	500 m		1000 m		3000 m		3000 m relay		Total points
			Time (s)	Points	Time (min)	Points	Time (min)	Points	Time (min)	Points
final
1.	South Korea	Kim Min-jee	45,862	5	1: 33.744	5	6: 20.363	3	4: 27.245	6th	44
		Choi Eun-kyung	45.415	3	1: 33.041	5	6: 20.311	5
		Cho Ha-ri	45.702	3	1: 34.528	5	-	-
		Kim Min-jung	45.762	1	1: 33.825	3	-	-
		Ko Gi-hyun	-	-	-	-	-	-
2.	People's Republic of China	Wang Meng	45.863	3	1: 34.057	3	-	-	DSQ	0	31
		Fu Tianyu	45.255	5	1: 34.025	2	-	-
		Wang Chunlu	45.679	5	-	-	-	-
		Yang Yang (A)	45.191	5	1: 33.050	3	6: 21.253	0
		Liu Xiao Ying	-	-	1: 34.616	3	6: 20.381	2
3.	Italy	Catia Borrello	45,958	2	-	-	-	-	4: 26.267	10	22nd
		Marta Capurso	45.579	2	1: 33.289	2	6: 27.386	0
		Katia Zini	45.859	1	1: 34.060	1	6: 29.860	0
		Mara Zini	45.655	2	1: 34.311	1	-	-
		Evelina Rodigari	-	-	1: 35.562	1	-	-
4th	Canada	Tania Vicent	46.099	1	1: 35.459	2	-	-	4: 30.850	4th	21st
		Amélie Goulet-Nadon	DSQ	0	1: 33.112	5	6: 20.590	1
		Annie Perreault	45.756	2	-	-	-	-
		Alanna Kraus	45.204	3	1: 33.305	1	-	-
		Amanda Overland	-	-	1: 34.159	2	6: 25.379	0

Men

In the first group of the preliminary round Canada clearly prevailed and advanced to the finals, while the USA and Italy reached the hopes. Great Britain was knocked out. The second group was much more exciting. China won just ahead of South Korea and reached the final straight away. Japan followed South Korea into the round of hope. Bulgaria was eliminated from the tournament. In the hope round, the favorites with South Korea and Italy prevailed and also reached the final.

rank	country	runner	500 m		1000 m		3000 m		5000 m relay		Total points
			Time (s)	Points	Time (min)	Points	Time (min)	Points	Time (min)	Points
final
1.	Canada	Éric Bédard	42.729	3	-	-	-	-	6: 57.910	10	42
		Mathieu Turcotte	43.137	3	1: 28.738	3	-	-
		Jeffrey Scholten	42.364	5	1: 29.012	5	5: 06.893	1
		Jean-François Monette	42.181	5	1: 28.337	3	-	-
		Jonathan Guilmette	-	-	1: 30.092	1	5: 03.070	3
2.	South Korea	Song Suk-woo	42.733	2	1: 28.180	5	5: 03.364	2	6: 58.317	6th	36
		Lee Seung-jae	42.771	5	-	-	-	-
		Oh Se-jong	42.981	1	DSQ	0	-	-
		Ahn Hyun-soo	42,385	2	1: 28.013	5	5: 02.960	5
		Yeo Jun-hyung	-	-	1: 28.825	3	-	-
3.	People's Republic of China	Li Jiajun	42.614	5	DSQ	0	DSQ	0	DSQ	0	22nd
		Li Ye	43.227	2	1: 29.390	3	-	-
		Li Haonan	42.696	3	-	-	-	-
		Guo Wei	42.203	3	1: 28.763	5	-	-
		Sui Bao Ku	-	-	1: 28.554	1	5: 17,124	0
4th	Italy	Maurizio Carnino	DSQ	0	-	-	-	-	7: 02.347	4th	16
		Nicola Franceschina	43,349	1	1: 29.805	2	-	-
		Nicola Rodigari	42,801	2	1: 29.608	2	-	-
		Fabio Carta	42.558	1	1: 28.462	2	5: 12.357	0
		Michele Antonioli	-	-	1: 28.994	2	5: 10.811	0

Web links

• Official results (English)