Graham Hughes / AP

The United States' Apolo Anton Ohno, left, and Canada's Charles Hamelin battle for positions during the semifinals of the 1,500 meters  at a short track speedskating event in Montreal on Saturday. Ohno failed to qualify for the final, while Hamelin went on to win the title.

updated 6:49 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2009

MONTREAL - Katherine Reutter of the United States won the women’s 1,500 meters at the short track speedskating World Cup event on Saturday, and U.S. star Apolo Anton Ohno took second in the men’s 500.

Charles Hamelin of Canada held off Ohno to win the 500 in 41.576 seconds. Ohno finished in 41.807 and fellow American Jeff Simon was third in 41.870.

Earlier, Hamelin won the 1,500, finishing in 2 minutes, 19.220 to edge Si-Bak Sung of South Korea by 0.001 of a second. Travis Jayner of the United States placed third in 2:19.560.

“I think the message is starting to be sent that the Canadians are really strong on pretty much all the distances,” said Hamelin, the world-record holder in the 1,000 and a member of Canada’s silver-medal winning 5,000 relay team at the Turin Games.

Ohno failed to qualify for the 1,500 final after placing fourth in his semifinal heat. Only the top two skaters advance.

Reutter finished in 2:23.275 seconds to beat Ha-Ri Cho of South Korea. Cho crossed in 2:23.349 and Liu Qiuhong of China was third in 2:23.371.

Wang Meng of China won the women’s 500 ahead of Kalyna Roberge of Canada. Zhao Nannan of China was third.

The skaters are working to secure spots in Olympic competition this February in Vancouver. The results from this week will be combined with rankings next weekend in Marquette, Mich.