Olympic champion eyes speed skating glory
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Park Seung-hi races during the 1,000 m race during the National Speed Skating Championships at the Taereung International Skating Rink, Thursday. / Yonhap
Park Seung-hi to compete at ISU event in Japan in her new sport
By Nam Hyun-woo
Can former short track star Park Seung-hi make a mark in speed skating?
It took less than three months for Park Seung-hi to switch to long track speed skating from short track and earn a cap.
The Sochi Olympics gold medalist in women's individual 1,000 m and 3,000 m relay short track finished the long track 1,000 m race in 1:21.16, tracing two-time long track Olympic champion Lee Sang-hwa in a trial at Taereung International Skating Rink, outskirt of Seoul, Thursday.
The race took place on the final day of the three-day national speed skating championships hosted by the Korea Skating Union. The biggest focus of the media of at this event was whether Park would show substantial promise in her new sport.
Finishing second out of 13 competitors, she earned a place in the national team to represent Korea in international events in the 2014-15 season, given to two top skaters.
After collecting two golds at Russia, she had considered quitting short track, but her sister and long track skater Seung-ju and Lee advised her to go for long track skating. From mid-August, she started training for long track skating in Canada and clocked 1:20.40 in an official record tracking session on Oct. 10.
“I only had five official skating session, including this trial, but the result was better than I expected.” she said.
The 22-year-old said she will draw from the experiences of Lee, a world-class speed skater. “She is the best in the sport,” Park said. “I will bombard her with questions to improve myself as a speed skater.”
The skaters who earned a cap at the trial will compete in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Speed Skating starting Nov. 14 in Obihiro, Japan.
“I will do my best to honor the privilege of being a part of the national team,” Park said.
A native of Gyeonggi Province, she comes from a highly successful skating family.
The 2010 Overall World Champion won two gold medals and three bronze medals at 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics Games. Her sister Seung-ju is a speed skater and her brother Se-yeong is a short track speed skater. The Park siblings competed for Korea at the Sochi Games and gained a lot of media attention.