(Olympics) S Korea-projection
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| ▲ Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea poses with his gold medal from the men's 1,500m short track speed skating race during the medal ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing Medal Plaza in Beijing on Feb. 10, 2022. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ South Korean speed skater Kim Min-seok celebrates his bronze medal in the men's 1,500m race of the Beijing Winter Olympics during the victory ceremony at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Feb. 8, 2022. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Choi Min-jeong of South Korea smiles after winning silver in the women's 1,000m short track speed skating race at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 11, 2022. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ South Korean skip Kim Eun-jung (C) watches as her lead Kim Seon-yeong (L) and second Kim Cho-hi sweep the ice during the women's curling round robin game against Britain at the Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing on Feb. 11, 2022. (Yonhap) |
(Olympics) S Korea-projection
(Olympics) S. Korea counting on more medals from ice in final stretch of Beijing 2022
By Yoo Jee-ho
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- With seven days' worth of competition in the books at Beijing 2022, South Korea has bagged one gold medal, one silver medal and one bronze medal.
All three medals have come from ice -- a gold and a silver from short track speed skating, and a bronze from speed skating.
Including Saturday, there are nine more days of action left at the Winter Games in China. And it is possible, or even likely, that no matter how many more medals South Korea wins, they will all be from skating races.
As the host of the previous Winter Olympics in 2018, South Korea claimed medals in events with no prior success. Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho captured silver in the men's parallel giant slalom, while skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin soared to gold in the men's event. The four-man bobsleigh team, led by pilot Won Yun-jong, won silver.
Lee and Yun didn't even come close to a medal in Beijing. Won still has two events coming up: the two-man competition starting Monday and then the four-man race starting next Saturday. The recent forms of those two teams make it unlikely that the veteran pilot will be back on the podium this time.
On a brighter note, there are still four races left in short track speed skating, and South Korea has a legitimate shot at winning a medal in each of them.
Hwang Dae-heon, the men's 1,500m champion and so far the country's only gold medalist, has advanced to the quarterfinals in the 500m and the final in the 5,000m relay.
Choi Min-jeong won silver in the women's 1,000m Friday night, and she will try to defend her titles in the 1,500m and the 3,000m relay later on.
Speed skater Kim Min-seok delivered the first medal for South Korea in Beijing with his bronze in the men's 1,500m on Tuesday. South Korea will send skaters to seven more races: the men's and women's 500m, the men's and women's 1,000m, the men's team pursuit, and the men's and women's mass start.
Of those, South Korea should contend for a medal in the men's team pursuit and both mass start races.
The team pursuit event will see the exact same trio that won silver in 2018 back for another shot: Lee Seung-hoon, Chung Jae-won and Kim Min-seok. Lee is the defending champion in the mass start, with Chung now considered an even stronger medal contender than Lee. In the women's mass start, Kim Bo-reum will try to improve on her silver from four years ago.
One other ice event that bears watching will be women's curling. South Korea, the reigning silver medalist, split its first two round-robin games. Teams will each play nine round-robin contests, and the top four will qualify for the semifinals.
South Korea's initial target for Beijing was to win one or two gold medals and finish in the top 15 in the medal race. The country entered Saturday's action tied for 16th with Australia.
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