Short Track: Home hope faces last chance to shine

Vancouver (AFP) - Canada's highly-regarded Charles Hamelin faces his last chance to grab a short-track medal at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games when he competes in the 500m and the closing 5,000m relay on Friday.

As the world champion and the World Cup leader in the 500m, he is under intense pressure to win after Lee Jung-Su knocked him out of the 1,500m semi-finals and led South Korea's one-two in the 1,000m.

Hamelin, whose only Olympic medal to date was the 5,000m relay silver from the Torino 2006 Games, finished out of the 1,000m podium with American Apolo Anton Ohno taking the bronze.

Lee's absence from the 500m makes Hamelin's chances brighter.

The 25-year-old French Canadian easily finished top in his heat on Wednesday despite starting from fourth position on the outside.

"It was a tough race," he said. "But I did it, and I feel proud of what I did."

Canada men's short track coach Derrick Campbell said that his squad -- so far without any medal to show despite two silver medals won by Canadian women -- knows that "the 500 is probably their best distance".

"We know we're really strong in the relay," Campbell said, adding that the Canadian hosts "focus on medals, medals, medals, but these guys were fourth and fifth in the Olympic final, and this is a good result for them."

Canada finished second overall behind South Korea in this season's World Cup 5,000m relay series with China third and the United States fourth.

The 500m will also probably be Ohno's last realistic shot at a gold medal in Vancouver after winning the 1,500m in his Olympic debut in 2002 and the 500m in Turin where he stopped South Korea's sweep of men's medals.

After Lee's two teammates Sung Si-Bak and Lee Ho-Suk collided around the final turn, Ohno took the 1,500m silver to become the most medalled Olympic short-track competitor.

He then finished third in the 1,000m for his seventh Olympic medal to become the most decorated US Winter Olympian surpassing long-track legend Bonnie Blair.

"Life has certainly changed. But I'm still here," the 27-year-old said about his new heights.

"The Olympics isn't over yet. I am representing the USA. I want to race my best all the way through," said Ohno, rated high in the longer races but not in the 500m which requires raw speed.

"This is an unique opportunity. I feel blessed and I am humbled."

In the 500m World Cup, another Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay is ranked second with South Korean Sung Si-Bak third.

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