Hwang Dae-Heon couldn't have wished for a worse start to the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, which will be his second appearance in the games.

The South Korean short track speed skater and his mixed relay team were eliminated from the quarterfinals of the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships on Saturday at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium. Two days later, Hwang and his teammate Lee June-seo were eliminated from the men's 1,000m semifinals due to what many South Korean authorities and fans feel to be unjust officiating decisions on the part of the referees.

Then, on Wednesday, the 2018 Olympic silver medallist in the 500m discovered what he had been searching for all along the first gold medal of his professional career.

Despite a tumultuous final in which a record number of skaters competed, Hwang emerged victorious in the men's 1,500m final. Hwang won the race by 0.035 seconds over Steven Dubois of Canada, who finished in 2:09.219 seconds.

The race was 13 1/2 circuits long when he surged from the center of the pack to the front with nine laps to go. He didn't have another skater in front of him for the remaining nine laps of the race.

Immediately following Tuesday's training session, Hwang stated that he was ready to move on from Monday's disaster and that he intended to learn whatever lessons he could from the event.

Hwang stated that he was concentrating on eating well and getting adequate rest in order to be prepared for his forthcoming races.

And on Wednesday, he demonstrated exactly how prepared he was.

The day began with the quarterfinals, which were followed by the semifinals, and finally, the finals, which concluded the day. Hwang used his superior speed in each of his races to overtake skaters on the outside corner, rather than attempting any moves on the inside and risking incurring penalties or exposing himself to more contentious decision-making.

The final push he gave was undoubtedly the peak of his performance. And with plenty of time remaining on the clock, Hwang was able to hold off Dubois and the Russian Olympic Committee's Semen Elistratov, who had finished third in the previous race.

Despite the fact that the ice was busy, the race was quite clean. No one was fined, and Hwang made certain that his third race in Beijing would be a charmer to the fullest extent possible.