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Bobsledders reach new Olympic high

February 18, 2014

Two-man bobsleigh team pilot Won Yun-jong, left, and brakeman Seo Young-woo react as they cross the finish line in their final run at the Sochi Olympics at the Sanki Sliding Center, Monday. The team finished 18th overall, the highest ever for Korean bobsledders. (AP-Yonhap)

By Kwon Ji-youn

Korean bobsledders proved Monday night that they are brimming with potential, boosting expectations for the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo finished 18th in the two-man event ― an all-time high ― in 3:48.29. Korea’s best finish in the sport was 19th in the four-man event at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The result is all the more meaningful as this year’s games represented the first time Korean bobsledders qualified for the two-man event. At Vancouver, Korea competed only in the four-man event.

In the first heat, Korea 1, comprised of Won and Seo, placed 18th, clocking 57.41 seconds, 1.16 seconds slower than the Russian team. Korea 2, comprised of Kim Dong-hyun and Jun Jung-lin, placed 25th in 57.78 seconds.

In heat two, Korea 1 placed 18th in a shortened time of 57.20 seconds but fell behind in the third heat, finishing in 21st place. But in heat four, Korea 1 sped by the finish line in only 57.08 seconds, placing 16th in the heat, and 18th overall.
Meanwhile, Korea 2 placed 24th in the second and third heats, clocking 57.76 and 57.73 seconds respectively. It failed to qualify for the final heat.

The Russians made the most of Sochi being the host city for this year’s games, accumulating plenty of experience on the track that they were to compete upon. The Russian team of Alexev Voevoda and Alexander Zubkov took the gold for the first time in 26 years, clocking 3:45.39. The silver went to Alex Baumann and Beat Hefti of Switzerland, who finished in 3:46.05. Gold medal favorites Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton of the United States almost missed the podium altogether but managed to come in third just 0.03 seconds ahead of the second Russian team.

Only Kim has experienced an Olympic stage, and yet both Korean teams placed in the top 10 with regards to start time, a result of incessant training and preparation. The teams will now focus on maintaining speed throughout the race, with the intention of becoming contenders for the podium by 2018.

For the first time in history, Korea was represented in all bobsleigh events at the Winter Games, sending a delegation of eight men and two women to the Black Sea resort town. In many ways, the podium seems to be within the realm of possibility for Team Korea four years down the road, especially as they will then be competing on home ice.

Ski jumpers go downhill

Korean ski jumpers and curlers topped off their Olympics in 11th and 8th place respectively, both failing to make it to the finals.

Kang Chil-ku, Kim Hyun-ki, Choi Heung-chul and Choi Seo-u of the men’s ski jump team placed second to last in the first round with a total score of 402.0, just 2.8 points over that of the Canada team, who brought up the rear. Only the top eight scorers made it past the first round into the final round.

Korea’s best finish in the ski jump team event was 8th place at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Korea was not represented in the team event at the Vancouver Games.
Germany placed first in the final with 1041.1 points total, and Austria came in second, with 1038.4 points. The Japanese won a bronze with 1024.9 points.

Curlers prepare for 2018

The curlers’ hopes of a Cinderella run were dashed after they lost to Britain and Denmark, dropping to ninth place in a field of 10 with two wins and five losses as of Sunday.

The team of Kim Ji-sun, Gim Un-chi, Shin Mi-sung, Lee Seul-bee and Um Ji-min seemed to spark hope after securing a 11-2 win over the United States on Monday, but those hopes were dampened later that day when Britain collected its fifth win over Russia, taking the last available spot in the playoffs.

But the significance lies in the three overwhelming wins Team Korea secured over Japan, Russia and the United States and the fact that prior to the Olympics the team made it to the playoffs in the national championships. The future looks bright for Korean curlers.