Kim Bo-reum finishes mass start in fifth place

Kim Bo-reum reacts after completing the women's mass start semifinals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Kim Bo-reum rounded off the speed skating tournament at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with a fifth-place finish in the women's mass start on Saturday at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing.

Kim, the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics mass start silver medalist, started the race near the back of the pack and gradually worked her way up to take fourth place with four laps left to go.

Kim slipped back in the final sprint of the race, finishing in fifth place with a time of 8 minutes and 16.81 seconds, 2 seconds behind Irene Schouten of the Netherlands in first place.

En route to the final, Kim had finished second in her semifinal, 0.04 seconds behind Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy. Park Ji-woo, the other Korean competing in the mass start, failed to reach the final after a collision in her semifinal.

The women's mass start completes the speed skating program for the Beijing Olympics. The Korean speed skating team won a total of four medals at the games: Two silver and two bronze.

All four medals came from the men's team: Cha Min-kyu won silver in the men's 500 meters, Kim Min-seok took bronze in the 1,500 meters and Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon won silver and bronze respectively in the men's mass start earlier on Saturday evening.

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