Sin Da-woon continues Korea’s short-track reign

Sin Da-woon

Sin Da-woon won the overall individual title of the world speed skating championships on Sunday, extending Korean men’s dominance at the event to five straight years.

Sin, 19, tallied 89 points at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships held between Friday and Sunday in Drebecen, Hungary. He came in ahead of his compatriot Kim Yun-jae, who earned 55 points in total. Charles Hamelin of Canada finished third overall with 39 points.

Sin won two individual events, the 1,500-meter final on Friday and the 1,000-meter final on Sunday, and finished second in the 3,000-meter Super Final event on Sunday.

The winner of an event gets 34 points, second place gets 21 points and third, 13.

Kim won the 3,000-meter Super Final and came second in the 1,500-meter.

Korean men have held an iron grip on the world championships since 2009, when Lee Ho-seok was crowned overall champion. Lee defended the title in 2010, and Noh Jin-kyu and Gwak Yoon-gy took the top spot in 2011 and last year, respectively.

Ahn Hyun-soo, who brought Korea five consecutive world titles through 2007, finished sixth this year. Ahn, who is now Victor Ahn as a naturalized Russian, earned 23 points overall.

In women’s events, 2010 overall winner Park Seung-hi finished as runner-up with 58 points, while Shim Suk-hee finished third with 55 points.

Park led in overall points until Saturday but relinquished the lead to Wang Meng of China after being disqualified in the semifinals of the 1,000-meter on Sunday. Wang won the overall title with 68 points.

By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]