SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) — Three South Korean speed skaters finished well out of contention in the women’s 3,000 meters on Sunday at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Kim Bo-reum, Noh Seon-yeong and Yang Shin-young fell short of the medalists at Adler Arena Skating Center, as South Korea had another futile day on the oval.
On Saturday, Lee Seung-hoon, silver medalist in the men’s 5,000ｍ at the previous Olympics, finished a disappointing 12th in the same event.
South Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum takes a turn en route to a 13th-place finish in the women’s 3,000 meters at the Sochi Winter Olympics on Feb. 9, 2014. (Yonhap)
Kim salvaged her day, however, by finishing in 13th place, the highest-ever rank by a South Korean woman in the 3,000ｍ. Her time was 4:12.08.
Noh Seon-yeong had held the previous record, with consecutive 19th-place finishes at the 2006 and the 2010 Winter Games. On Sunday, Noh ended in 25th place with 4:19.02.
Noh is the older sister of former short track men’s world champion Noh Jin-kyu, who is currently battling bone cancer that prevented him from racing in his first Winter Games.
Yang finished last in 27th place at 4:23.67. From the field of 28 skaters, Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus of Poland was disqualified.
Ireen Wust of the Netherlands claimed the gold medal with 4:00.34, returning to the top of the podium after winning the gold in 2006. The 2010 Olympic champ, Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic, settled for silver this time at 4:01.95. Olga Graf of Russia got the bronze in 4:03.47.
The South Korean speed skating squad will hope for better results on Monday, when Mo Tae-bum will try to defend his Olympic gold medal in the men’s 500ｍ.
Elsewhere in Sochi on Sunday, cross-country skier Hwang Jun-ho finished last in 68th in the men’s skiathlon 15㎞ classic + 15㎞ free event. Mun Ji-hee ranked 74th among 84 competitors in the women’s 7.5㎞ sprint in biathlon.
In the men’s luge singles, Kim Dong-hyeon finished 35th in his Olympic debut.
In the men’s ski jumping, none of the three South Koreans who passed the first qualification stage made it to the medal round in the normall hill competition. Of the 50 qualifiers, ski jumpers needed to rank inside the top 30 to vie for medals. Choi Seo-u came the closest for South Korea at 33rd, while Kim Hyun-ki and Choi Heung-chul finished 41st and 42nd.
(END)
Source :
TV TOTAL 