South Korea's Ahn Hyun-soo and Jin Sun-yu have won gold medals in the men’s and women’s 1,500-meter events, respectively, at the 2005 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships held in Beijing Friday.

Ahn, a strong skater with a proven track record, overcame a challenge from a Canadian rival, winning by less than a second.

The victory is a good sign for the athlete who had been in a "slump" recently and gives him another chance to sweep the individual events at the world championship, which he has done previously in 2003 and 2004.

Jin, a rising star in the women's event, sidestepped a teammate to secure the first-place finish, with a Chinese athlete coming in third.

South Korea won nine of 10 first-place medals in the 2004 world championships. By winning the two top races that were up for grabs on the first day of competition, South Korea has raised the possibility of maintaining its overall top standing in the competition that it has dominated since 2002.