Ex-short track skater Park comes up short in speed skating
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Korean speed skater Park Seung-hi reacts to fans after completing her 1,000-meter race at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics at the Gangneung Oval, Wednesday. Park finished 16th. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean speed skaters Park Seung-hi and Kim Hyun-yung fought hard in the women’s 1,000-meter event of the PyeongChang Olympics, Wednesday evening, but came up short to reach the Olympic medal standards.
At the Gangneung Oval, former short track star Park recorded a time of one minute and 16.11 seconds to finish 16th. Park passed the 200-meter mark at 18.15 seconds and the 600m mark at 45.81 seconds, but could not maintain her pace in the final 400m.
Park switched to the long track after winning two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. As a short track speed skater, Park won two gold medals and three bronzes in the last two Winter Olympics.
Kim finished 18th with a time of 1:16.366. After making a false start, Kim got off decently, having a good first 200m at 18.06 seconds, but she failed to keep her speed up to the end of the race.
Lee Sang-hwa, current South Korean record holder in the women’s 1,000m, didn’t compete in the event. Lee previously said she will only skate in the 500m race in a bid to raise her chance for a third straight Olympic gold in the event.
Dutch skater Jorien Ter Mors won the race with a time of 1:13.56. She was followed by two Japanese skaters Kodaira Nao (1:13.82) and Takagi Miho (1:13.98).