Ohno, the five-time Olympic medalist, hoped to earn a World Cup gold medal at the Olympic Oval in Kearns. But that hope was dashed on Saturday night when he took a spill in the men's 1,000-meter finals, effectively ending any chance of him earning a medal on the evening. He will have another chance at an individual medal today at 3 p.m. with the 500-meter finals.

The race was Ohno's to win, as he was in second place at the time and challenging South Korea's Yoon-Gy Kwak for the lead. But Ohno lost his balance on a turn and slid into the wall, much to the dismay of the sizable crowd that turned out to see the second day of the event.

Ohno wasn't made available to the media following the event.

"It was a tough fall for him," said Ohno's USA teammate, Jeff Simon. "Apolo's an unbelievable talent and a great athlete. It was just a mistake. He's going to take this and prepare for tomorrow."

On a night that was dominated by Korea and China, two USA skaters medaled for the first time in international competition.

Simon took home the bronze medal in the men's 1,500 meters, while Kimberly Derrick bronzed in the women's 1,000 meters. Neither had challenged for medals before Saturday night. Both were ecstatic to compete on such a high level.

"This is a big improvement on last year," Derrick said. "This is definitely a big step for me and I'm very excited with the results. I have to improve even more now because the rest of the world knows that I'm here now. But I'm very happy to be on the podium for the first time."

Simon's sentiment was pretty much the same. He had a chance to win his race, and was challenging for the lead with a few laps remaining. But Si-Bak Sung from Korea and Canada's Charles Hamelin proved to be a bit too much down the stretch.

Four events were decided on Saturday night. China's Meng Wang won the women's 1,000 meter race with a time of 1:29.766. Yan Zhou, also of China, won the women's 1,500 race with a time of 2:21.445. Sung took the men's 1,500, while Kwak emerged victorious in the men's 1,000-meter event.

The American relay team of J.R. Celski, Anthony Lobello, Simon and Ohno will have a strong chance to challenge for the gold medal in today's 5,000-meter final.

tjones@sltrib.com

* American Apolo Ohno falls during the 1,000-meter finals, and South Korea's Yoon-Gy Kwak wins.

* China and South Korea each earn two gold medals on the second night of competition in Kearns.