BEIJING– South Korea’s hopes of capturing its first medal of Beijing 2022 on Monday were dashed on the ice of Capital Indoor Stadium, where its short track speed skaters suffered untimely falls and got penalized on their way out of races.
South Korea was shut out in short track despite sending four skaters into action: Choi Min-jeong in the women’s 500m quarterfinals and Hwang Dae-heon, Lee June-seo and Park Jang-hyuk in the men’s 1,000m quarterfinals.
Choi fell without contact and was gone from her quarterfinal heat. Park sustained a hand injury after a fall in his quarterfinal race and pulled out of the semifinals.
Hwang and Lee got disqualified for causing contact with other skaters with illegal passing and lane change, respectively.
Before the Olympics, South Korea had set a modest goal of winning one or two gold medals. The short track speed skaters had spoken confidently about exceeding that target by themselves, but with three races in the books, they remain empty-handed.
Also on Monday for South Korea, alpine skier Gim So-hui finished 33rd out of 49 who completed their races in the women’s giant slalom at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing District, northwest of Beijing. After two runs, Gim had a combined time of 2:07.22.
One other South Korean in the event, Kang Young-seo, did not finish her first run.
At Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, some 180 kilometers northwest of Beijing, Ekaterina Avvakumova and Kim Seon-su finished 73rd and 84th, respectively, in the women’s 15km individual biathlon event.
South Korea could end its medal drought Tuesday, when its alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho takes the slope in the men’s parallel giant slalom event. Lee is the 2018 Olympic silver medalist in the event and is the overall leader in the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup season.
South Korea’s first speed skating event is also scheduled for Tuesday with the men’s 1,500m. The 2018 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Min-seok and his close friend Park Seong-hyeon will represent the country at the National Speed Skating Oval.
Source: Yonhap News Agency