Former national short-track speed skater Ahn Hyun-soo, who recently changed his name to Viktor Ahn upon gaining Russian citizenship, made his debut for Russia at the World Cup short-track speed skating event in Moscow on Saturday.

Ending his long hiatus from international competition, Ahn competed in the men’s 5,000m relay, helping Russia to advance to the semifinals.

In the 5,000m semifinals on Saturday, Russia was running in second, behind Korea with two laps to go. But the team failed to advance to the finals after their last skater fell in the final lap.

Meanwhile, Korea’s Kwak Yoon-gi won the men’s 1,000m race with one minute 28.996 seconds, ahead of his teammate Noh Jin-kyu and China’s Liang Wenhao.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics star Lee Jung-soo and Lee Ho-suk also took gold and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 1,500m. And Cho Ha-ri and Lee Eun-byul added gold and silver in the women’s 1,500m, proving again Korea’s prowess in short-track speed skating.

Russia, however, failed to medal in its home event. Despite the result, the Russian Skating Union announced that they were content with Ahn’s progress in Russia.

Ahn, who was considered one of Korea’s premier skaters, won five successive world titles from 2003-2007, as well as three gold medals for Korea in the men’s 1,000m, 1,500m and 5,000m relay at the 2006 Turin Olympics before injuring his knee in 2008.

He lost his place on the Korean team due to the injury before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but he then claimed the reason for his ouster was a conflict with the Korean Skating Union.

Ahn has been training in Russia since he lost his place. The Russian Skating Union believes Ahn, who received his Russian passport last month, is going to be one of his new country’s medal hopefuls at its home Winter Games in Sochi 2014.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)