Sports Briefs
Published: 10 Apr. 2018, 19:58
Lee Jung-su swaps long track for short track, again
Two-time Olympic short-track speed skating champion Lee Jung-su has decided to return to the sport, after a brief sojourn in long track.
According to the Korea Skating Union (KSU) on Tuesday, Lee will enter the national team trials for the 2018-2019 season, which begin today at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul.
Choi Min-jeong and Hwang Dae-heon have already qualified for the national team by being the top finishers at the World Championship in March.
Lee, 28, captured two short track gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics but turned to speed skating before the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, following the paths of former short trackers such as Lee Seung-hoon and Kim Bo-reum.
After struggling in the new sport, Lee went back to short track and enjoyed a career renaissance during the 2016-2017 International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup season.
But after finishing eighth in the Olympic trials in early 2017, where the top four earned berths for PyeongChang 2018, Lee decided to give speed skating another try.
Lee didn’t qualify in the long track national team trials as well. He worked as a television analyst for short track during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Lee actually started his career as a long-track speed skater in fourth grade but switched to short track in sixth grade.
Yonhap
GOLF
Kim Ji-hyun jumps up 10 spots in world ranking
After winning the KLPGA’s first tournament in Korea for the year on Sunday, Kim Ji-hyun moved up 10 spots in the world ranking to 56th.
Kim won the Lotte Rent-a-Car Ladies Open at Sky Hill Jeju Country Club on Sunday, finishing one shot ahead of runner-up Oh Ji-hyun. Kim finished the tournament at nine under par. The tournament was only played in 36-hole stroke play, as the strong wind and snow forced the second and third round to be canceled.
As there wasn’t an LPGA event over the weekend, there hasn’t been a change in the top 14 in the world ranking.
Of the top 10 players, five - Park In-bee, Park Sung-hyun, Ryu So-yeon, Kim In-kyung and Choi Hye-jin - are Korean.
By Kang Yoo-rim
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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