Vancouver (AFP) – Lee Sang-Hwa won gold in the women’s 500 metres speedskating in a shock victory over hot favourite Jenny Wolf of Germany Tuesday, giving South Korea more success on the Olympic ice.

Lee, leading after her first run, notched a combined time of 76.09sec for her two races (38.24 and 37.85), just 0.05sec ahead of Wolf. China’s Wang Beixing took the bronze in 76.63sec.

The win for the 20-year-old, who has not won a single race in this year’s World Cup, comes after South Korea claimed their first ever Winter Olympic gold outside short-track on Monday through Mo Tae-Bum in the men’s 500m.

Lee was last to go in her second run at Richmond Olympic Oval paired with Wolf, the three-time reigning world champion and world record-holder, and did just enough to hold off the German.

Lee, who turns 21 this month, was fifth at the Turin Games and third at the worlds last year. She is currently third in the World Cup standings.

The South Korean, also entered for the 1,000m, said: “The feeling has not sunk in yet. I cannot believe I have won the medal. I am very emotional and I feel like I am going to cry.

“I want to share this medal with my coach, my family and all the Korean athletes that are in the Olympics.

“Jenny Wolf is a very fast skater. But I remained calm and did my best in this race.”

Wolf said she was disappointed to miss out on gold but was nevertheless proud.

“I wanted to win gold. It was a tough race,” she said.

“Winning an Olympic medal is something you dream (of) when you are a child,” she added.

Bronze medallist Wang said: “This my first time standing on an Olympic podium. I am very glad.”

When asked about fulfilling the dream of winning a medal for China, she said: “For sure I am going to continue to pursue this.”

South Korea came into the Games with a pedigree in short-track skating but looking for their first gold outside that event.

Wolf, who missed out a medal in Turin in 2006, has dominated the sport since, winning the past four World Cups and leading the standings this year but she could not find the extra few hundredths of a second needed to realise her Olympic dream.

Underlining Asia’s strength in speed skating, six of the top ten were from the continent including Japan’s Sayuri Yoshyii in fifth place and the Chinese pair of Zhang Shuang and Jin Peiyu in eight and ninth positions.