An Yi-seul

By Yoon Chul

Korean inline skating star An Yi-seul grabbed the gold medal in the inaugural official event at the Asian Games, Tuesday.

An clocked in at 26.870 seconds in the women’s 300-meter time-trial, 0.023 seconds ahead of silver medalist Yinglu Zang of China and bronze medalist Wenwen Li (27.362).

Inline skating is divided into time trials, sprints, points-elimination races and free skating.

The time trial race sees each competitor skate on their own to try and set the fastest time while athletes go together in the sprint and points-elimination events.

An is one of the top medal contenders.

She won the same event in the World Championships last year and won the Asian Championships in the 500-meter time trial and finished second in the 300-meter time trial.

Korea’s Lim Jin-sun finished fifth in the 300-meter time-trial and Jang Su-chul earned a bronze medal in the men’s 300-meter time trial.

yc@koreatimes.co.kr