Yun wins Korea's first skeleton gold
Yun Sung-bin crosses the finish line in the men's skeleton event at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Yun celebrates after checking his record / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Yun, center, poses with Russia's Nikita Tregubov, left, and the U.K.'s Dom Parsons after the race. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin gave his home fans the best Lunar New Year’s Day present as the 23-year-old claimed the host country’s second gold medal of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Friday.
At the Olympic Sliding Centre, Yun had a flawless race in the fourth heat clocking 50.02 seconds to post a track record. Overall Yun recorded three minutes and 20.55 seconds. Yun was followed by Russia's Nikita Tregubov (3:22:18) and the U.K.'s Dom Parsons (3:22.20).
With the gold medal, Yun became the first Asian athlete to win a medal in the event. Yun also helped the host country’s Winter Games medal capability as Korea has claimed its previous Olympic medals only in figure skating, short track and speed skating. Now, Korea has claimed two gold medals and one bronze in the PyeongChang Olympics.
The 23-year-old racer advanced to the fourth heat after clocking 50.18 seconds in the third heat earlier in the morning to maintain his lead with a combined time of 2 minutes, 30.53 seconds.
The world No. 1 racer started the first day on Thursday with a time of 1:40.35, setting track and start records.
On winning the gold medal, Yun expressed his gratitude saying “It is not my effort alone that got me this medal. I would like to thank my whole team for helping me, encouraging me. It is still unbelievable that I got the gold medal. I would like to again thank everyone on my team for always encouraging me.”
He also said he feels it is a great honor to achieve the Olympic gold in front of his home crowd.
“Getting the gold medal in any Olympics is a great result but getting the gold here in my home country is a very great honor, much bigger than that,” he said.
In Olympic skeleton, only the 20 fastest racers in the first three heats compete for medals in the final heat. Yun could win the gold as he posted the fastest combined time after the four heats.
Yun started his race 20th as the field goes in order of bib number in the third heat. He began his final race with an explosive push with a start record of 4.62 seconds. He also easily conquered the troublesome ninth curve which has caused many racers to make multiple adjustments to their lines.
Yun, center, stands with Russia's Nikita Tregubov, right, and the U.K.'s Dom Parsons on the podium during the medal ceremony, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Yun looks closely at his medal / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Another Korean Kim Ji-soo, 23, clocked a combined time of 3:22.98 to finish sixth.
Saying he could have done better, the world No. 25 promised to deliver better results next time.
“Overall I could do a lot better. So I will show you a better performance next time,” Kim said.
On competing at the PyeongChang Olympics, he said, “It’s a very great honor to participate in the Olympics. It’s a much bigger honor to participate in an Olympics in Korea, in my home country.”
“It was a little bit regrettable because I couldn’t get a medal. But still, I was very happy to participate in this Olympics,” he added.