Ice skating: Speedy Koreans carve up ice

The Korean team dominated the speed skating events at the Dunedin Ice Stadium over the weekend.

Korean skaters won gold medals in the senior men's, senior women's, group A men's and group A women's competitions.

The tension of the competition brought dramatic moments, with falls in the senior 500m finals.

New Zealand No 1 Blake Skjellerup was among those to have his race spoiled when he was tripped by Korean Tae-Hoon Kim. The mishap was disappointing for Skjellerup, who appeared to be on target to qualify for the A final. Skjellerup won the B final, placing him fourth overall for the event.

The Koreans had signalled their dominance on Saturday, winning all four titles in the short-track skating, with Kim and Eun-Ja Jung (women) both in excellent form.

Skjellerup was sixth overall in the 1000m.

"I didn't expect to win ... I was hoping for a personal best but didn't manage it," he said.

"It's brilliant that the Winter Games has brought this international competition here."

Allie Rout, who in recent times switched from figure skating to speed skating, won the C final of the 1000m, giving her an overall placing of ninth in the senior women's event.

Overall New Zealand winners in the younger grades were Ben Whiteside (group B men), Rianna Mitchell (group C women) and Jason Clague (group C men).

The Dunedin Ice Stadium received rave reviews as a skating venue, and the Winter Games event was also praised.

Australian coach Ann Zhang said being able to test her team's skaters against the Koreans had provided a valuable opportunity.

Rosemary Nye, president of the New Zealand Ice Speed Skating Association and Olympic Committee board member, said the sport in New Zealand would continue to improve.

"Our speed skaters are excelling and we have a good base of skaters with young ones coming through. They are only going to get better with more competition between Korea and Australia leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea."