China dominates 1,500m events at 2016 ISU Shanghai Trophy

China dominated the 1,500-meter events at the 2016 ISU Shanghai Trophy on Friday as Han Tianyu took the men's gold while the Chinese skaters finished top three in the women's event.

The ISU Shanghai Trophy, running from March 4-6, was presented by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the Chinese Skating Association. It's a new event that combines short track speed skating and synchronized skating, and it's the first time that an ISU event combines the two disciplines.

Han clocked two minutes 26.252 seconds to claim the first gold, beating South Korean Lim Yong-jin into second (2:27.003). Jeanne Vincent of France was third at 2:27.255.

The Sochi Winter Olympic silver medalist Han said that the race is a good rehearsal before the World Championships which will be held on March 11-13 in Seoul, South Korea.

"It is a good thing to race with all the top skaters in the world just before the World Championships," said Han, "Our Chinese team wants to do something more in the World Championships, both in the single events and the team ones."

The 21-year-old Lin Yue timed two minutes 24.797 seconds to edge out her Chinese rivals in the 1,500m final. Guo Yihan came second at 2:29.509, while Fan Kexin, the silver medallist of womne's 1000m in Sochi Olympics, finished third at 2:29.582.

The first 24 skaters, both men and women, in the overall classification of the 2015/16 ISU world ranking lists after the fourth World Cup, are invited to participate in the Shanghai Trophy.

The top five placed ISU members of the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2015 are also invited to participate in the Synchronized Skating competition. After the short program on Friday, Russia's Paradise, Haydenettes of the United States and Team Surprise of Sweden took the top three places. Endit