Seo Yi-ra (center), who won the first 500m race of the 6th Short Track World Cup
Seo Yi-ra returns to national team after 6 seasons, first ‘golden’ in 500m for Korean men’s and women’s national team Jang Seong-woo, runner-up in men’s 1,500m Mixed relay also ‘silver run’
Seo Ira (31, Hwaseong City Hall), the ‘eldest brother’ of the Korean men’s short track team, won a gold medal at the 6th competition of the 2023-2024 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Cup.
Seo Yi-ra recorded a time of 41.451 seconds in the final of the first men’s 500m race held in Gdansk, Poland on the 18th (Korean time), beating Canada’s Stephen Dubois (41:467) by 0.016 seconds to win.
As a result, ‘veteran’ Seo-ra, who returned to the national team six seasons after the 2017-2018 season, experienced the joy of winning her first individual event in this season’s Grand Prix series.Seo Yi-ra previously won a silver medal in the 500m in the fourth competition.
In particular, Seo Ira is the first Korean athlete to win a gold medal in the 500m World Cup series this season.
Seo-Ira ran to the semifinals of the men’s 5,000m relay at the 5th competition last weekend and missed the finals, but the national team won and won her first gold medal in the team event of the season.
Seo Ira increased her World Cup series gold medal count to two this season.
Seo-Ira, who advanced to the finals in second place after Dubois in the semifinals, faced Dubois again in the finals.
At the start, Dubois, who started in the innermost lane, took the lead, followed by Seo Yi-ra’s chase.
In the 500m race, which took four and a half laps, Seo Ira successfully made a comeback with two laps remaining, and narrowly beat Dubois by a sharp thrust at the final finish line, confirming the gold medal.
Seo Yi-ra said through the Korea Skating Federation, “Korean athletes are also taking on the challenge with the belief that they can show off in short distances. I am happy that we were able to overcome the disappointment of winning a silver medal in the 4th competition and take first place in the 6th and final competition.” .
Kim Tae-seong (Seoul City Hall, 41.896 seconds), who also reached the finals, finished in 4th place.
Jang Seong-woo (far left), runner-up in the 1,500m at the 6th Short Track World Cup
In the men’s 1,500m final, Jang Seong-woo (Korea University) took second place, while Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall), who is aiming to win the men’s overall title at this season’s World Cup, failed to add a medal.
Jang Seong-woo recorded a time of 2 minutes 16.087 seconds in the 1,500m final, losing the gold medal to Canada’s Pascal Dion (2 minutes 16.060 seconds) by 0.027 seconds.
Jang Seong-woo, who also won a silver medal in the second 1,500m race of the previous 5th competition, won a medal for two weeks in a row.
Jang Seong-woo’s silver medal was also a result of good luck.
Jang Seong-woo, who was running in third place at the end of the race, took the silver medal when Priso Emmons (Netherlands), who was in second place, suddenly fell just before the finish line.
Park Ji-won, who also participated in the finals, rose to second place midway through the race, but was unable to increase her speed and finished in last place, seventh place.
Jang Seong-woo also participated in the finals of the mixed relay (2,000m) with Kim Gil-li (Seongnam City Hall), Kim Geon-woo (Sports Toto), and Shim Seok-hee (Seoul City Hall), with Korea (2:41.357) beating the Netherlands (2:40.737). He also contributed to taking second place.
Shim Seok-hee, who competed in the women’s 1,500m final, took sixth place with a time of 2 minutes 24.147 seconds, and Kim Gil-li, who is challenging to win the overall women’s World Cup title, was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the first 500m race and did not reach a medal.
In addition, the Korean men’s and women’s national teams took first and second place, respectively, in the relay semifinals and both reached the finals. 온라인섯다
