Wu Dajing spearheads thrilling mixed team relay triumph as Team China grabs its first gold of Games

China's short-track speed skaters claimed the host's first gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics in the inaugural 2,000m mixed team relay on Saturday.

Wu Dajing edged out Pietro Sighel of Italy by just half a skate blade for the victory, much to the delight of the cheering home fans inside the Capital Indoor Stadium. Hungary earned bronze.

Canada was disqualified for pushing from behind in the straight and causing contact with Hungary.

China was rated favorite to top the podium in Beijing, having won twice on this season's World Cup circuit to lead the overall standings.

"I've been waiting for this gold medal for a long time," said China's Fan Kexin, who burst into tears after the triumph.

"I think that's the power of the team. In the morning, we were still training for how to do better and better."

In the 18-lap final, China's Ren Ziwei took the lead with 14 laps to go after his female teammates, Fan and Qu Chunyu, both placed third. The four-member Chinese team maintained the lead, and Wu crossed the finish line first, clocking 2 min 37.348 sec to edge out Italy's Sighel by just 0.16 seconds. Hungary finished third at 2:40.9.

Italy's second-place finish saw Arianna Fontana become the only short-track speed skater, female or male, to win nine Olympic medals.

"He was inching up on the Chinese skater. I thought he got it," Fontana said of the enthralling final.

"It was pretty close. It was amazing to watch him fight for a gold medal."

In other events on the sport's first day of competition, all the medal favorites qualified for the quarterfinals of the women's 500m, including world champion Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands, Italy's Fontana, Olympic record holder Choi Min-jeong of the Republic of Korea and China's Fan.

In the men's 1,000m heats, Hwang Dae-heon led the way into the semifinals with a new Olympic record of 1:23.042. Other big names to progress safely through were Pascal Dion of Canada, the current world No 1 in the event, China's Ren and Wu, as well as brothers Sandor Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang of Hungary.