South Korea's Choi Minjeong powered her way to a gold medal in the Olympic women’s short-track speedskating 1,500 meters on Saturday, atoning for a heartbreaking disqualification in the 500m final.

Choi, the world record holder in the event, broke away from the pack with four laps to go, crossing ahead of China's Li Jinyu and Canada's Kim Boutin who collected her second bronze to go along with the one she grabbed in the 500m.

With two finals and the prospect of Korean skaters winning both gold, the excitement inside a soldout Gangneung Ice Arena was electric, the tension building with each heat as the crowd, which included South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook, exploded in cheers each time a Korean crossed first.

The final served as redemption for Choi who was denied a medal in the 500m on Tuesday when she was disqualified for interference after a photo finish with gold medal winner Arianna Fontana of Italy.

There was more hard luck for Britain's Elise Christie who once again saw her bid for a medal come to a crashing end.

Christie, the world champion over the distance, tangled with another skater entering the final turn sending her slamming into the boards.

She laid on the ice for several moments before being taken off on a stretcher to polite applause.

One of the world's top skaters, Christie has known nothing but Olympic frustration sliding off track in the 500m final on Tuesday after crashing out or being disqualified in three events at the Sochi Winter Games.

Such has been the Asian domination of the event that only two of the 12 medals awarded had not gone to either South Korea or China with Bulgaria grabbing a bronze at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and Italy a third place in Sochi four years ago.

The night did not start well for the South Koreans when 2014 silver medallist Shim Suk-hee, who grew up in Gangneung, crashed out midway through the opening heat.