Jung Seung-gi secures top-10 finish in men's skeleton

Yun Sung-bin competes in the men's skeleton event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre during the Beijing Olympics in Beijing. [AP/YONHAP]

Jung Seung-gi finished the men's skeleton in 10th place on Friday night, coming in two spots ahead of countryman and 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist Yun Sung-bin.

Jung finished with a total time of 4 minutes and 3.74 seconds, 2.73 seconds behind first place. Yun followed with a time of 4 minutes and 4.08 seconds, 3.08 seconds behind first.

Jung, who entered the Olympics as the highest-ranked Korean, finished the first two runs on Thursday in 10th place with a combined time of 2 minutes and 2.22 seconds. Jung had a slower first run, at 1 minute and 1.18 seconds, to take 11th place, rising up to 10th after recording a 1 minute at 1.04 seconds on his second run.

Jung continued to improve on Friday, taking ninth place in the third run with a time of 1 minute and 0.69 seconds, a speed he nearly matched in his fourth run with a time of 1 minute and 0.83 seconds. He finished ninth for both runs to take 10th place overall.

Yun finished the first two runs on Thursday with a combined time of 2 minutes and 2.43 seconds. Yun also improved on his second run, dropping from 1 minute and 1.26 seconds to 1 minute and 1.17 seconds.

The PyeongChang gold medalist continued to improve on Friday, recording a time of 1 minute and 1.03 seconds in his third run, before dropping down to a more competitive 1 minute and 0.63 seconds in the fourth run. The fourth run was good enough for seventh place, taking him to 12th overall.

Christopher Grotheer of Germany took gold with a time of four minutes and 1.01 seconds, Axel Jungt of Germany took silver and Yan Wengang of China took bronze.

Yun made history when he won gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, becoming the first athlete outside of Europe and North America to win a gold medal in any sliding sport and the first Korean athlete to ever win gold outside of ice skating.

That 2018 win might have come out of nowhere to casual fans, but Yun had actually been carving his spot into skeleton history for years: At this point in his career he reached the podium at two world championships and 37 world cups, winning 10 word cup gold medals and taking the No. 2 spot in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and the No. 1 spot in 2018.

The arrival of younger competitors like Jung proves that Yun isn't an anomaly and Korean athletes can offer serious competition in sliding sports.

Korea's Kim Eun-ji will be back in action on Saturday evening as she competes in the third heat of the women's skeleton tournament 9:20 p.m. She is currently in 23rd place.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]