Skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin eyes Olympic gold
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Yun Sung-bin / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
Skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin was an ordinary high school senior five years ago. However, his life has totally changed since his school’s physical education teacher Kim Sung-tae encouraged him to join the newly established sledding team at the Korea National Sport University.
Kim, who’s also a director at Seoul Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation, recognized Yun’s power and lower-body strength and now Yun has accomplished what his teacher expected of him.
Yun, who finished 70th in rankings at the 2012-13 International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) season, reached 22 in the rankings the following season and won the bronze medal in the 2014-15 season’s second World Cup race in Calgary.
The 23-year-old has kept improving as he became the world No. 1 this season edging out Martins Dukurs of Latvia. The seemingly unbeaten skeleton racer had maintained the top position for eight seasons from the 2009-10 season to 2016-17, and has won a total of 50 World Cup races during his career.
But Yun is has been racing even better than the Latvian veteran. Starting with a silver medal in the first World Cup race of the 2017-18 season, Yun won three straight World Cup golds and added a silver in the fifth World Cup race.
With his pace, Yun is recognized as a strong gold medal contender at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Yun left for Germany Dec. 30 to attend the sixth IBSF World Cup event. Among a total of eight World Cup races, Yun is scheduled to compete through the seventh one and return to Korea, Jan. 14, to prepare for the Olympics.
Yun’s coach Lee Yong didn’t deny that Yun has been putting more focus on the upcoming Olympics than World Cup races.
“I am so confident that Yun can win a skeleton medal in the Olympics, but the Olympic gold is not decided by the athlete’s performance. He can be affected by the weather and his physical condition,” Lee told reporters before departing Incheon International Airport. “I just told Yun that we have to prepare for the Olympics as we planned.”
Yun also said he is not considering any home track advantage saying that it is more important for his performance in any race to be in form.
“I am currently satisfied with my performance, but on the other hand, I am also wondering how I will race on the Olympic stage in PyeongChang,” said Yun.
Yun added he will try his best to be a “Golden Dog” this year.
According to the Chinese zodiac, which relates each year to an animal in a 12-year cycle, the year of 2018 is the Year of the Golden Dog. Yun was born in the Year of the Dog in 1994. “The PyeongChang Olympics’ skeleton race will be held during the Seollal (Lunar New Year) holiday and I will do my best to deliver the best result during the happy holiday season.”
There will be two more PyeongChang tune-up races for Yun.
The sixth IBSF World Cup will take place in Altenberg, Germany. Yun said he has been “weak” on the Altenberg course and aims to produce better results than last season. At Altenberg, Yun finished fifth last season, 12th in the 2015-16 season and 10th in the 2014-15 season. “I don’t feel any fear but I just hope that I can be better there than last season.”