S. Korea finishes third in Asian Winter Games

By Yoon Chul

Speed skater Noh Seon-yeong grabbed her second gold medal at the Astana-Almaty Asian Winter Games, Sunday, as South Korea took the women’s team pursuit event.

In the Indoor Speed Skating Stadium, the team of Noh, Lee Ju-yeon and Park Do-young clocked in at 3:04.35, 1.58 seconds ahead of Japan.

However, Vancouver Olympics gold medalist Lee Seung-hoon failed to snatch his fourth gold in Kazakhstan, losing out in the men’s event.

In the week-long Asian Winter Games in Kazakhstan, Korea collected 13 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals for third place, while host nation, Kazakhstan finished first with 29 gold, followed by Japan with 13 gold, 24 silver and 17 bronze.

Lee, who earned gold medals in the men’s 5,000-meter, 10,000-meter and mass-start long-distance event, was teamed up with veteran Lee Kyou-hyuk and Vancouver Olympic gold medalist Mo Tae-bum.

In Heat 1, Korea competed with China and set a new Asian Games record with a time of 3:49.21 seconds.

But Japan, which vied with Kazakhstan in Heat 2, broke this record crossing the finish line.03 seconds faster.

Lee had to settle with three gold for the Games, joining short trackers Kim Ki-hoon and Chae Ji-hoon who each earned three at the Winter Asiads in 1990 and 1994.

As the 7th Asian Winter Games hosted by Kazakhstan didn’t have slalom events, Korea, which has shown strength in these, had to look to other ski events for gold.

Kim Sun-joo collected gold medals in the women’s downhill and super-G event, while Jung Dong-hyun clinched top place in the men’s super combined event.

Among all 37 medals Korea won, the most admired maybe the gold from cross country legend Lee Cha-won.

Lee has won 45 gold medals in the National Winter Sports Festival, and appeared in the Olympics three times but failed to garner much international success.

With the lack of support the 29-year-old cross country skier used all her strength to finally grab gold in the women’s cross country 10-kilometer freestyle event.

The Korea ski jumping team, which couldn’t practice as much as they wanted to, managed to win the bronze medal in the team competition.