South Korea powered to gold in the Olympic women’s short track speed skating 3,000 metres relay on Tuesday, defending the title they won in Sochi.

Italy took the silver while China and Canada were disqualified in the final to hand the bronze medal to the Netherlands who set a world record to win the B Final.

It was a typically wild and woolly race for the gold with several crashes and near wipeouts before South Korea grabbed control with two laps left.

They muscled their way to the front, triggering a mighty roar from the near-capacity crowd, before holding on for victory to maintain their domination of the event.

Canada won the first relay gold at the 1992 Albertville Olympics but South Korea has taken ownership since, topping the podium in six of the next seven Games with only China interrupting that run with victory in 2010.

It was Choi Minjeong's second gold of the Games to go along with the one she claimed in the 1,500m while Shim Sukhee and Kim Alang also celebrated gold for a second time after helping South Korea to relay glory in Sochi. Kim Yejin completed the winning foursome.