Korean speed skating has launched a new hope in the short distance. Kim Min-seon (23, Uijeongbu City Hall), who is considered the ‘successor of Lee Sang-hwa’, and Kim Jun-ho (27, Gangwon-do Office), who will succeed Mo Tae-bum, ran a golden run in the men’s and women’s 500m World Skating Union (ISU) World Cup with personal best records.
Kim Min-sun won her gold medal by finishing the race with 36 seconds 96 in the women’s 500m Division A (first division) at the 2022-23 ISU Speed Skating World Cup 4th Competition held at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada on the 17th. She won all of the 1st to 4th competitions this year, again breaking her personal record (36 seconds, 972), which she set on the 10th in her 3rd competition. Including the Four Continents Championships held earlier this month, she is the fifth consecutive ISU international champion. Among Korean players, the most consecutive World Cup victories is Lee Sang-hwa’s 10th.
She started the race in Group 9, and Min-sun Kim passed her first 100m section in her 4th overall time of 10.46. Min-sun Kim is the only one out of 20 contestants who finished the race in the 36th invitation. The second place is 37.26 seconds of Miho Takagi (Japan), the 500m silver medalist at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. A difference of 0.3 seconds is a significant gap in speed skating sprints, where rankings are separated by a difference of 1/1,000th of a second. Kim Min-seon is one step closer to the world record (36 seconds 36) set by idol Sang-hwa Lee in 2013, and is now preparing for the coronation of her new ‘Empress in Ice’. She also retained the world number one spot. By winning four consecutive tournaments, she scored a total of 240 World Cup points, a 50-point difference from Utah Leidram (190 points) of the Netherlands in second place. 스포츠토토
Following Kim Min-seon’s sprint, Kim Jun-ho also completed a golden run. Kim Jun-ho won the men’s 500m Division A held at the same venue on the 18th, achieving a personal best of 34.07 seconds. It is the first time in three years that Kim Jun-ho won the gold medal at the World Cup in November 2019 after the first World Cup competition in the 2019-20 season.
Kim Jun-ho, who won bronze medals in the 1st and 3rd World Cup competitions this season, ran the first 100m section in 9.46 seconds, second overall, in the 4th competition. Afterwards, she gnawed her teeth and increased her speed, far ahead of Merlain Schefferkamp (Netherlands), who raced with her. After crossing the finish line, Kim Joon-ho, who checked his record, raised his arms and cheered as if he had a premonition of victory. The silver medal went to Jordan Stoltz (34.08) of the United States, who trailed by 0.1 second. Kim Jun-ho’s World Cup points total is 184, ranking third in the world.