Korea finishes in 18th place in four-man bobsleigh

Olympic Sports

Published: 20 Feb. 2022, 15:12

Korea finishes in 18th place in four-man bobsleigh

Pilot Won Yun-jong, brakeman Kim Jin-su, pushers Jung Hyun-woo and Kim Dong-hyun compete during the bobsleigh four-man heat at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the National Sliding Centre in Yanqing, Beijing on Sunday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Team Korea rounded off their time at the Beijing Games with Team Won Yun-jong finishing 18th out of 28 teams in the men's four-man bobsleigh on Sunday, with a total time of 3 minutes and 58.02 seconds after their four runs.

Two Koreans sled had competed in the event, with Team Suk Young-jin failing to reach the fourth heat after finishing 25th over the first three heats, with only the top 20 reaching the medal race.

For the four-man bobsleigh, there are four athletes per team, a pilot who steers the bobsled down the track, two pushers who help push the sled at the beginning of the race, and a brakeman who pulls the brakes and stops the sled at the end of the race. The four-man bobsleigh race uses an enclosed sleigh with the four athletes seated inside, rather than the open sleigh used in skeleton and luge.

For Team Won, Kim Jin-su was the brakeman, with Jung Hyun-woo and Kim Dong-hyun acting as pushers. For Team Suk, Kim Hyeung-geun was the brake man, with Kim Tae-yang and Shin Ye-chan acting as pushers.

Team Won had headed in to the third heat in 18th place but after a clean third run, they took one step up to take 17th place with a time of 59.38 seconds, 3.26 second behind the top sled driven by Francesco Fredrich of Germany.

Their time of 59.38 seconds in the third run turned out to be their fastest after Team Won were unable to better their time in the last run, recording a time of 59.59 seconds.

After all sleds completed their race, Team Won's total time of 3 minutes and 58.02 seconds landed them at an overall 18th position, 3.72 seconds behind the gold medalists Team Fredrich of Germany.

Team Suk, on the other hand, had a tough start in their third and last run. They could only start the sled in their third attempt after the four athletes failed to be in sync in the first two start attempts.

But Team Suk were able to make up for the wobbly start, reaching a speed of 137.6 kilometers per hour, the sixth fastest finishing speed in the third heat. They had headed into the third heat in 26th place but their total time of 2 minutes and 59.96 seconds took them one step up to an overall 25th place. With only the top 20 teams reaching the medal race, Team Suk failed to advance to the medal race.

Both pilots had also competed with their brakemen in the two-man bobsleigh event on Tuesday and Wednesday. Won and Kim Jin-su landed in 19th place with a combined time of 4 minutes and 1.24 seconds after all four runs while Suk and Kim Hyeong-geun failed to advance to the fourth heat.

Three-time Olympian Won and Kim Jin-su only partnered up in January this year, after Won's long-time brakeman Seo Young-woo suffered an ankle injury. Despite their inexperience together, the pair were able to make up for lost time quickly, taking sixth place in the two-man bobsleigh race at the BMW International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup in January.

Now, all of Team Korea's events are finished at the Beijing Games. Men's speed skating 500-meter silver medalist Cha Min-kyu will be the flag bearer at the closing ceremony scheduled on Sunday evening.

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