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Beast from the Far East

November 12, 2013
Lee Sang-hwa Breaks Her Own 500m World Record 
Proving She’s the Fastest Woman Skater Ever
South Korea's Sang-Hwa Lee skates to victory in the ladies 500 meter competition at a World Cup speedskating event in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)


South Korea’s Sang-Hwa Lee skates to victory in the ladies 500 meter competition at a World Cup speed skating event in Calgary, Alberta, on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)

South Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa has broken her own world record in the women’s 500-meter.

Lee claimed the 500ｍ race in 36.74 seconds at the first leg of the International Skating Union (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary, Canada on Saturday, improving her previous world record by 0.06 seconds.

The 24-year-old had won a World Cup event in January this year with the then-world record mark of 36.80 seconds, also in Calgary. On Friday, she also won the opening 500ｍ race in 36.91 seconds.

The latest victory bolstered Lee’s hopes of repeating as the Olympic champion at the Sochi Winter Games in February next year. She won the 500ｍ gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, becoming the first South Korean woman to win a speed skating Olympic gold.

She dominated the 500ｍ during the previous World Cup season from November 2012 to March this year, winning nine races en route to capturing the overall title.

In World Cup events, skaters earn 100 points for each win and 150 points for a victory at the season-ending World Cup Final.

South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa celebrates her new world record during the ladies 500-meter competition at the World Cup speedskating event in Calgary, Alberta, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. Lee's time of 36.74 seconds at the Olympic Oval in Calgary erased the previous mark of 36.80 she'd set in Calgary on Jan. 20. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)

South Korea’s Lee Sang-hwa celebrates her new world record during the ladies 500-meter competition at the World Cup speed skating event in Calgary, Alberta, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. Lee’s time of 36.74 seconds at the Olympic Oval in Calgary erased the previous mark of 36.80 she’d set in Calgary on Jan. 20. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh)