Francois-Louie Tremblay set a new Olympic record and all three Canadian skaters advanced to the quarter final during Wednesday night’s men’s 500m short track speed skating at the Pacific Coliseum.
Tremblay finished the qualifying heat in first place, clocking in at 41.397 seconds, beating the record set by teammate Charles Hamelin just minutes earlier.
Hamelin beat fellow-Canadian Marc Gagnon’s previous Olympic record in the fourth heat of the night, skating to a time of 41.802 seconds, eclipsing Gagnon’s time by .303 seconds.
The Koreans had a successful heat, putting Sung Si-Bak, Lee Ho-Suk and Kwak Yoon-Gy through to the next round.
Apolo Anton Ohno, the most decorated winter Olympian in American history, skated in the seventh heat alongside Canadian qualifier, Olivier Jean.
Ohno and Jean both qualified for the quarters, posting times of 41.665 seconds and 41.737 seconds respectively.
Other qualifiers for the quarter final include Netherlands’ Niels Kerstholt, American Simon Cho, German Pieter Gysel, Great Britain’s Jon Eyey, France’s Thibaut Fauconnet, Latvia’s Haralds Silovs, China’s Han Jialang and Japan’s Jumpei Yoshizawa
The final 16 skaters will take to the ice for the quarter final, semi final and final on Friday, Feb. 24.