Skeleton racer Kim Eun-ji ends first Games in 23rd place

Olympic Sports

Published: 13 Feb. 2022, 08:35

Skeleton racer Kim Eun-ji ends first Games in 23rd place

Kim Eun-ji competes in the women's skeleton event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Yanqing on Friday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kim Eun-ji holds up a message saying "I am proud to represent Korea, Go Team Korea!" on her hands for a camera after finishing her third run in the women's skeleton event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Yanqing on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Skeleton racer Kim Eun-ji rounded off her first-ever Olympics in 23rd place, marking her best finish on the big stage on her third run on Saturday.

On Friday, Kim finished her first run in 1 minute and 3.28 seconds, 1.25 seconds behind the leader, then finished her second run in 1 minute 3.68 seconds, 1.49 seconds behind the leader. Her first two runs put Kim in 23rd position.

Kim had her best run on Saturday, shaving off almost a second from her second run to cross the finish line with a time of 1 minute 2.83, 1.39 seconds behind the leader.

Her start time of 5.19 seconds was also the best out of her three runs, reaching a speed of 118.94 kilometers per hour.

Her total time of 3 minutes and 9.79 put her in 23rd place out of 25 contestants. With only the 20 best sleds taking part in the fourth heat and medal race, Kim rounded off her first Olympics after the third heat.

Kim debuted on the big stage at 29-years-old, after taking up skeleton in 2016. Before then, Kim had been a long jump athlete.

Kim did not represent Korea at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, but was able to try the tracks as a demonstrating athlete, checking track conditions. Four years later, Kim became the only female athlete to represent Korea in skeleton at the Beijing Games.

Now all skeleton events are finished. The Korean national skeleton team’s best finish at the Beijing Games was Jung Seung-gi’s 10th place finish on Friday night with 2018 PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist Yun Sung-bin finishing in 12th place.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]