Korea’s racers finish strong at IBSF World Cup

Yun Sung-bin competes in the men’s skeleton World Cup race on Saturday in Lake Placid, New York. [AP/NEWSIS]

Korean skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin won a silver medal at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in Lake Placid, New York, on Saturday.

At the fourth World Cup of the 2015-16 season, Yun finished with a combined time of 1 minute 48.76 seconds after two races. The 21-year-old racer, now ranked fourth in the world, clocked 53.99 seconds in the first race and 54.77 seconds in the second.

World No. 1 Martins Dukurs took the gold medal with 1:48.28. The Latvian has placed first in every World Cup this season. His older brother, Tomass Dukurs, was third at 1:49.13.

This was Yun’s first silver medal this season and the second in his career. The Korea National Sport University student previously claimed silver at last season’s World Cup event in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Yun has been improving throughout the season. He started the season in 12th place at the first World Cup event in Altenberg, Germany, moving up to fourth at the second World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, and then won bronze at the third World Cup in Konigssee, Germany.

At Lake Placid, Yun particularly set a course record with his start on Saturday at 4.70 seconds, beating Russian skeleton racer Alexander Tretiakov’s 4.74 seconds in 2006.

Yun, who finished 16th in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, had one silver and two bronze medals in last season’s World Cup series.

Meanwhile, Yun’s teammate Lee Han-shin finished 19th after clocking 1:51.62.

Yun is one of Korea’s winter sports athletes hoping to medal in the upcoming 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, along with two-man bobsleigh team Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo.

In their World Cup races at Lake Placid, Won and Seo won bronze after the United States’ Carlo Valdes and Steven Holcomb and Germany’s Nico Walther and Christian Poser.

At this event, the Korean skeleton and bobsleigh teams put stickers on their helmets and sleds to commemorate their bobsleigh coach, Malcolm Lloyd, who died of cancer on Sunday.

Lloyd, who died at the age of 68, coached Korea from 2013. The Welshman previously coached countries including Russia, Italy and the U.K.

BY JOO KYUNG-DON [joo.kyungdon@joongang.co.kr]