Kong Xue won the first gold medal for China at the women's 500m short-track speed skating on Saturday at the 25th World Winter University Games in Erzurum, Turkey.

Kong finished with the best time of 45.054 seconds to beat Valerie Lambert of Canada, who took the silver medal with 45.416.

Lee Eun-Byul of South Korea, the silver medalist of 1500m at the Winter Olympic Games in 2010, was pushed by Chinese Li Jianrou and fell during the finals, and finished with a bronze medal by 59.793.

China also pocketed a bronze medal in the men's 500m as Gao Ming timed 41.944 on the third placing. France's World Cup champion Thibaut Fauconnet won the gold by 41.544 and Liam McFarlane on second by 41.874.

Russia led the medal table with five gold medals after their biathlon athletes won two gold on Saturday.

Alexey Trusov won the men's 20km individual by 57 minutes and 34.200 seconds while Daria Virolaynen triumphed in the women's 15km by 48 minutes and 13.600 seconds.

Katlyn Hartman won the first gold for the United States as she finished first in the women's Alpine Skiing Super G, timing 1:11.26.