Fellow American Rusty Smith (Long Beach, Calif.) captured the bronze medal in the 3000-meters. Smith also earned a fourth-place finish in the 1000-meter final. Ohno, also a 1000-meter finalist, set a new American record for the event in his semifinal heat but suffered a crash with two laps remaining in the final and finished fifth.

On Friday in the men’s 1500-meter final, Ohno's time of 2 minutes 11.280 seconds broke the previous record of 2:13.348 held by Alex Izykowski. Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn won the event with a world record time of 2:10.639, shattering the old mark of 2:12.234 set by Canada's Steve Robillard on October 14, 2001.

"Apolo skated extremely well today," said U.S. National Short Track Coach Tony Goskowicz. "It took a world record to beat him."

Rusty Smith (Long Beach, Calif.) reached the 1500-meter semifinals and finished in 10th place, while J.P. Kepka (St. Louis, Mo.) was 42nd after falling in his opening heat.

In ladies' opening-day action, both Caroline Hallisey (Natick, Mass.) and Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, Pa.) reached the semifinals of the 1500-meters. Hallisey placed 12th and Baver was 17th after setting a personal best of 2:25.521 in her opening heat. Maria Garcia (Carson, Calif.) finished in 15th place.

Korea swept the ladies' 1500-meter final with Eun-Kyung Choi winning the gold medal, Chun-Sa Byun taking the silver and Gi-Hyun Ko earning the bronze.

In the men’s 500-meter final on Saturday, Ohno led from start to finish to capture the gold. He survived a bump on the first turn of the last lap, kept his balance and the lead, and finished first with a time of 42.832 seconds. Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn finished second in 42.946, followed by countryman Seung-Jae Lee in third with a time of 43.005.

Although he didn't intend on taking the lead for the entire race, it proved to be the right strategy for Ohno.

"I wasn't planning on going from start to finish in first," said Ohno. "In the 500, you race the first half lap hard and it just happened that I was able to stay in front the entire way. I was bumped in the second to last turn and was able to stay on my feet."

"Apolo controlled the race perfectly today," said U.S. National Coach Tony Goskowicz. "He didn't go all out at the start, and he hit the brakes a little bit when he had to so China's Li Jiajun couldn't pass. Then once he got over the top it was all over."

Rusty Smith (Long Beach, Calif.) reached the quarterfinal round and placed 10th, while J.P. Kepka (St. Louis, Mo.) was eliminated in the preliminaries and finished 37th.

In the ladies' 500-meters, Maria Garcia (Carson, Calif.) reached the quarterfinals where she suffered a fall coming out of the final turn and did not advance. She placed 15th. Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, Pa.) was eliminated in the opening heats and finished 18th, while Caroline Hallisey (Natick, Mass.) was disqualified for impeding in her opening heat. Korea's Eun-Kyung Choi won the event with a time of 44.496.

In the men's 5000-meter relay on Saturday, the American team of Kepka, Ohno, Smith and Misi Toth (St. Louis, Mo.) placed fourth in their semifinal and did not advance. The U.S. ladies' 3000-meter relay team of Baver, Garcia, Hallisey and Brigid Farrell (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) was also eliminated after placing third in their semifinal heat.

In Sunday’s men’s 3000-meter final, Smith, who was initially disqualified for cross-tracking, was reinstated to his third-place finish after officials reviewed the race. Ohno (Seattle, Wash.) crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for impeding, giving the win to Korea's Seung-Jae Lee.

"I was frustrated with the weekend up until [Sunday]," said Smith. "My skating was consistent all weekend but the result wasn't there."

As for the reversal of the officials call in the 3000-meter final, Smith knew he had done nothing wrong.

"They initially called my for cross-tracking with three laps to go and then changed to call to impeding," Smith said. "I looked at the videotape and there was nobody near me with three laps remaining, so I knew they had made a mistake."

Hyun-Soo Ahn of Korea won the 1000-meter final on his way to first place in the overall classification. Lee was second in the overall classification followed by Ohno in third.

Smith placed fifth overall and J.P. Kepka (St. Louis, Mo.) was 25th.

In the 1000-meter semifinal, Lee set a new world record with a time of 1 minute 25.729 seconds, breaking the old mark of 1:25.985 held by Canada's Steve Robillard.

In the same race, Ohno set a new American record for the distance with a time of 1:25.837, bettering the mark of 1:26.677 held by Shani Davis (Chicago, Ill.).

Hyun-Soo Ahn of Korea won the 1000-meter final on his way to first place in the overall classification. Lee was second in the overall classification followed by Ohno in third.

Smith placed fifth overall and J.P. Kepka (St. Louis, Mo.) was 25th.

In the ladies' 1000-meters, Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, Pa.) and Brigid Farrell (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), skating for the injured Maria Garcia (Carson, Calif.), both reached the quarterfinals. Baver placed 10th and Farrell was 15th. Caroline Hallisey (Natick, Mass.) was eliminated in her opening heat and finished 21st.

Korea's Eun-Kyung Choi won the ladies' 1000-meter final in 1:34.819 en route to the overall title. Baver placed 13th in the overall classification and Hallisey was 17th.

The Korean teams also captured both the ladies' 3000-meter relay and the men's 5000-meter relay.