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| Silver medalist Chung Jae-won, left, and bronze medalist Lee Seung-hoon of Korea celebrate after the men's speedskating mass start finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, in Beijing. EPA-Yonhap |
South Korea's Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon grabbed silver and bronze medals in the men's mass start speedskating at Beijing 2022, Saturday, for the country's third and fourth medals from the long track event.
Bart Swings of Belgium won gold in 7:47.11 at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, and Chung grabbed silver just 0.07 of a second behind. Lee finished 0.02 of a second behind Chung for the bronze.
This was the final day of the speedskating competition in Beijing; and produced Chung's second career Olympic medal. He was a member of the silver medal-winning team in the men's team pursuit at PyeongChang 2018.
In the mass start four years ago, Chung acted as a pacemaker for teammate Lee, who skated to gold. In Beijing, this time, Chung beat Lee by a hair in a symbolic passing of the torch.
With this bronze, Lee became the most decorated Winter Olympian from South Korea. He has collected six medals ― two gold, three silver and one bronze ― across four Olympic Games.
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| Lee Seung-hoon, left, and Chung Jae-won, right, of Korea, and Joey Mantia, center, of the United States skate to the finish line during the men's speedskating mass start finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Feb. 19. AP-Yonhap |
The mass start is a hybrid event featuring short track action and long track race strategy over 16 laps, or 6,400 meters. All skaters start en masse and some physical contact is allowed.
Skaters can only start jostling for positions after a shot is fired following the first lap.
The top three skaters at intermediate sprints at the end of four, eight and 12 laps will each earn three, two and one points. And then the first six skaters of the final sprint, which covers the last four laps, will gain 60-40-20-10-6-3 points.
The first three skaters to cross the finish line are the medalists. The rest of the rankings are determined by sprint points, and then by finish time for those without any points.
The men's final here had a strategic start. Chung hung back around fifth or sixth place, while Lee was even further back, sitting as long as 10th among 16 finalists through Lap 11.
The fun began over the final two laps. Lee kicked into a higher gear, moving up from 10th to second place in the blink of an eye. Chung was still in fifth while Swings took the lead.
After the final corner, Lee briefly moved into first place down the last straightaway. But Swings nipped him at the end, and Chung got his blade across just ahead of his teammate. (Yonhap)
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