Speed skater Kim Jun-ho breaks nat'l record in men's 500m
Kim Jun-ho of Korea holds his bronze medal won in the men's 500 meters at the International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup at Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 16. Reuters-Yonhap
Speed skater Kim Jun-ho has broken the Korean national record in the men's 500 meters.
Kim won the bronze medal in the men's 500m at the first International Skating Union (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup of the season at Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sunday (local time), with a time of 33.78 seconds.
Cha Min-kyu had the previous Korean record with 34.03 seconds, set at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup Final in March 2019.
Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands grabbed the gold in 33.63 seconds, and Yevgeniy Koshkin of Kazakhstan, who skated alongside Kim, took silver in 33.67 seconds.
Kim, the reigning Asian Winter Games bronze medalist in the 500m had the second-fastest split in the opening 100m with 9.49 seconds and came home in 24.20 seconds. Kim caught an edge and fell right after crossing the finish line, and barely avoided crashing into Koshkin.
Another Korean skater, Lee Na-hyun, won the bronze medal in the women's 500m on Sunday with a personal-best time of 37.03 seconds. It was Lee's first World Cup individual medal.
Femke Kok of the Netherlands set the world record with 36.09 seconds for the gold, breaking a 12-year-old mark held by two-time Olympic champion from Korea, Lee Sang-hwa.