Australian speed skater Brendan Corey has crashed out of his 1,000 metre short track speed skating quarter final, ending his chances of a medal.
Corey was penalised for taking out Dutch skater Itzhak de Laat and China's eventual gold medallist Ren Ziwei on the final corner.
The 25-year-old had been sitting in third place, and was looking to move up the inside of de Laat, but caught his lead skate on Ren, sending all three into the barriers.
Hungarian rider Joh-Henry Krueger was also penalised for bumping Corey earlier in the race, which dislodged the Aussie from his early position of second.
The 25-year-old Canadian-born skater represented Canada at youth level before switching his allegiance to Australia, where his mother grew up.
Corey is ranked 11th in the world for the 1,000 metres and reached the A final at the ISU World Cup event in Dordrech in November.
Ren progressed through to the A Final, where he was one of three Chinese skaters, alongside Hungarian brother, of Chinese heritage Shaolin Sandor and Shaoang Liu.
In a dramatic race that featured a restart due to a piece of blade lodged in the ice and typically rough-and-tumble opening, Shaolin Sandor Liu just edged Ren by 0.04 seconds in a thrilling decider.
However, the Hungarian was subsequently penalised for two digressions, relegating him to last and handing Ren the gold medal.
Wenlong Li moved from a distant bronze to silver while Liu's brother Shaoang claimed bronze.
Corey was the first Australian athlete to feature in the 1,000 metres at an Olympic Games in 12 years, since Lachlan Hay failed to progress through the heads in Vancouver.
The 1,000 metres was the event Stephen Bradbury claimed gold in at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, becoming Australia's first ever Winter Olympics gold medallist.
Corey will hope to have better luck in the 500 metres when qualification starts on Friday.
