Wu Dajing competes in the men's 500 meters short track speed skating on February 13, 2022. Photo: Li Hao/Global Times

Chinese skater Wu Dajing ranked the first place in final B of men's 500 meters of short track speed skating on Sunday night, ­missing his another medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but Chinese netizens still see him as a winner and hero in their hearts.

Wu, holder of world record and Olympic recorder of the event, fought on the battlefield with his teammates Ren Ziwei, gold medalist of men's 1,000 meters, and Sun Long on Sunday.

Ren and Sun did not qualify to the ­semifinals, ranking the third and the fourth place in the first group at the quarterfinal. Wang Meng, China's four-time Olympic champion for short track speed skating, analyzed that their strategy of overtaking had some problems when narrating the competition on live.

Wu successfully qualified to the semifinals by the first place in the second group, but ranked the third in the semifinal and just qualified for final B, missing his second medal at the Olympics after a gold medal of the mixed team relay.

"I am regretful for the result," after the competition, Wu accepted the interview and talked about his loss at the event.

Wu concluded that he gave up the speed but focused more on the route, and the levels of semifinalists were very close, everyone could compete for the gold medal. 

Although he did not perform very well in the race, Wu has been ready to adjust his mental state to welcome the next event held later.

The competition grabbed significant attention on Chinese social media platforms. Many Chinese netizens felt badfor three ­skaters but still considered them as winners who had tried their best.

An accident happening at the arena also sparked huge discussion on Sina Weibo. South Korean skater Hwang Dae-heon was again disqualified in the semifinals for a late pass that caused contact with Steven Dubois of Canada.

When Hwang fell out of the arena, he did not take his skating knife shoes back, which is very dangerous for other competitors next to him or behind him.

Commentator Wang noticed the detail and talked about a similar incident that South Korean skater had not taken shoes back when falling down, causing Chinese skater Han Jialiang's hands and stomach had been injured. Chinese netizens criticized the behavior of Hwang, speculating that the accident might affect Wu's performance.

Liu Shaoang of Hungary won Olympic gold at the event. Russian skater Konstantin Ivliev took silver and Steven Dubois of Canada earned bronze.