Favorite Meng of China takes 500 meters

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In a sport full of surprises, Wang Meng of China is the surest thing in short track speed skating.

Wang easily won her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's 500 meters last night, defending the title she won four years ago at the Turin Games.

She led all the way after surviving a restart and a false start in the four-woman final at Pacific Coliseum.

Wang cruised home well ahead of Canada's Marianne St-Gelais, who took silver. Arianna Fontana of Italy earned the bronze.

The final was restarted after Canadian Jessica Gregg went down and her teammate St-Gelais followed in the first turn. After some ice repair, the women returned to the starting line.

Then there was a false start. But Wang stayed calm throughout the delays.

She darted to the lead on the inside lane and stayed there the entire way, making it a race for the lesser medals among the other three women.

Wang crossed the finish line well ahead, sticking both her arms out. She quickly grabbed a Chinese flag and skated around the rink, shouting, "Woo!" Wang was the gold-medal favorite, and she lived up to her billing starting in the preliminary heats Saturday. She was by far the fastest skater and was never challenging on her way to the final.

She is the world-record holder in the 500 and is ranked first in the world in the sprint.

Ohno advances

Apolo Anton Ohno easily advanced through the preliminaries of 1,000-meter short track, staying on course to surpass Bonnie Blair as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian. Ohno, who won his sixth Olympic medal in the 1,500 Saturday, was third most of the way. Then, in the closing laps, he moved up to second before using a smooth inside move to take the lead over China's Liang Wenhao.