Reigning Olympic champion Lee will only compete in 500m

Reigning Olympic speed skating champion Lee Sang-wha skates during a practice session at the Gangneung Oval in the sub-host city of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Tuesday. Lee dropped her plans to compete in the women’s 1,000-meter event and will only compete in 500 meters on Feb. 18, shooting for her third straight Olympic gold medal. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

South Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa will only compete in the ladies’ 500 meters at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a move seen as a bid to raise her chance for a third straight Olympic gold in the event.

The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KOC) said Thursday she will not skate in Thursday’s 1,000 meters _ one of her scheduled two events at PyeongChang _ and solely focus on the 500 meters scheduled on Feb. 18.

“She made her decision not to run in the 1,000 meters,” a KOC official said, adding this is not her major event. “She has already pulled out of the 1,000-meter roster.”

Although she won two tickets to PyeongChang, she mostly spent time on defending her title in the 500 meters for three times in a row.

She only competed twice in the 1,000 meters at the 2017-18 International Skating Union (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup.

“She participated in the 1,000 meters as part of her efforts to become familiar with the rink ahead of the 500 meters and check her condition,” the official said.

Lee, 28, dominated the 500 meters for years. In addition to her Olympic gold medals in 2010 and 2014, she set the world record of 36.36 seconds in November 2013 and also the Olympic record of 37.28 seconds in February 2014.

In the 1,000 meters, she finished 23rd in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and 12th in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

She is among the gold medal prospects for South Korea. The country seeks to collect eight golds for a finish of fourth in the medal standings.

Her biggest rival is Nao Kodaira of Japan.

In the 500 meters, the 31-year-old sprinter finished 12th in 2010 and 5th in 2014.

A late bloomer, the Japanese skater, however, has been undefeated in the past two seasons, her ascendency coinciding with Lee’s struggles with leg injuries.

She won all eight of her races during the 2016-2017 ISU World Cup Speed Skating season, and captured both the world single distance and world sprint championships in the 500 meters.

In the 2017-2018 season, Kodaira picked up right where she left off, winning all seven World Cup races and leaving Lee to settle for five silver and one bronze.

Kodaira competes in three events -- 500-, 1,000- and 1,500 meters -- at PyeongChang and seeks to win in the two latter.

She set her personal best record of 1 minute, 56.11 seconds this season in the 1,500 meters, Monday.

After her race, Kodaira said she was satisfied with her performance, and hopes to maintain her condition and have a good race against Lee.