It didn't take long for the first piece of drama to take place - Dutchman Teun Boer was given a ticket to the semifinals after third-ranked Hwang was deemed to have impeded Boer, giving the latter an automatic advancement in the first quarterfinal.
Pietro Sighel, the Italian hero from the golden mixed team relay, was penalised and eliminated from the competition after accidentally impeding Michal Niewinski - a fatal mistake costing him the top spot.
A tragic fall from Felix Roussel after a collision with Shaoang Liu took out Liu in the third-to-last lap of the second semifinals, handing the Korean Jon-Gun Rim and Dutchman Jens van 't Wout easy tickets for the final A after William Dandjinou, Long sun and Roberts Kruzbergs clinched final spots in the first semifinal.
A sensational Van 't Wout surprised Dandjinou late in the final, overtaking the dominant Dandjinou with exactly one lap to go to grab a second Dutch short track gold of the evening after Xandra Velzeboer imperiously won the women's 500m.
Dandjinou ended up missing out on a medal altogether after being overtaken by both Long Sun and Jon-Gun Rim on the final lap, leaving Team Canada bitterly disappointed after a successful mixed team relay.