SEOUL– As one star has been falling, a new one is on the way up for South Korean men’s skeleton with the Beijing Winter Olympics on the horizon.
Jung Seung-gi grabbed his first career medal at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup on New Year’s Eve in Sigulda, Latvia, where he finished in third place.
The 22-year-old posted a combined time of 1:41.73 after two runs, ranking behind the famous Dukurs brothers of Latvia — Tomass won the race at 1:41.36, and his younger brother Martins was the runner-up by 0.06 second.
Jung’s bronze was the first medal for South Korea in any sliding event in the ongoing 2021-2022 World Cup season.
This was Jung’s third top-10 showing in six World Cups this season. He opened the campaign with a seventh-place finish on Nov. 19 in Innsbruck, Austria, and a week later in the same city, Jung finished a career-high fourth. Three sliders shared first place at 1:46.04, and Jung had the second-best time at 1:46.18.
Jung then slipped outside the top 10 in his next three stops, before reaching the podium to close out 2021.
“It is an honor to bring home some good news at the start of the new year,” Jung said. “I am thrilled with my first-ever podium finish. I will try to earn a ticket to the Olympics and do well there, too.”
Jung’s ascent has coincided with a disappointing season by Yun Sung-bin, the 2018 Olympic skeleton gold medalist and 2017-2018 World Cup overall champion.
Yun hasn’t come particularly close to a medal yet this season. He has been inside the top 10 just twice in six World Cups. He was 17th in Sigulda, behind two teammates — Jung and Kim Ji-soo, who was 13th.
Jung has now outdueled Yun twice this season. In the world rankings, Jung is the top South Korean at No. 10, followed by Yun at No. 14 and Kim at No. 15.
World ranking positions as of Jan. 16 will determine 50 quota places for Beijing 2022. A country can have a maximum six athletes — three per gender — in skeleton. Only the men ranked inside the top 60 and the women among the top 45 will be eligible for the Olympics. They must have competed in at least eight races on three different tracks during the qualification period.
Source: Yonhap News Agency