Shim Suk-hee to compete with Korea's national short track team again next season

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Shim Suk-hee to compete with Korea's national short track team again next season

Shim Suk-hee leads the pack during the 1,000-meter race at the KB Financial Group ISU World Short Track Championships at Taereung Ice Rink in northern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Shim Suk-hee leads the pack during the 1,000-meter race at the KB Financial Group ISU World Short Track Championships at Taereung Ice Rink in northern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

 
Short track speed skater Shim Suk-hee will compete next season with the Korean national team. Shim qualified for the national short track team on Sunday after taking an overall second place at the KB Financial Group ISU World Short Track Championships.
 
Shim crossed the finish line in third place at the 3,000-meter super final of the KB Financial Group ISU World Short Track Championships on Sunday with a time of 5 minutes 44.349 seconds, behind Kim Gil-li and Kim Gun-hee to finish in an overall second place.
 
The championships serve as national team-selection matches. The first leg took place on May 4 and 5. Shim took third place in the 500-meter race with a time of 44.697 seconds, then took first place in the 1,000-meter with a time of one minute 30.220 seconds. Shim took an overall third place in the first national team selection match with 48 points while Kim Gun-hee took first place with 50 points and Kim Gil-li took second place with 49 points.
 
In the second leg, Shim took an overall second place after finishing the 500-meter race in first place with a time of 43.517 seconds and finishing the 1,000-meter race in second place with a time of one minute and 29.135 seconds.
 
The top four qualify for the 2023 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships that will be held in Seoul. Up to three players can participate in the individual competition while the fourth player will join for team relay events.
 
Choi Min-jeong, the overall champion of the 2022 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships that were held in Montreal this April, automatically qualifies for the event. Choi, Kim Gil-li and Kim Gun-hee will play the individual events while Shim will join for team relay events.
 
Shim only rejoined the national team in March for the first time since October last year, when she was removed from the Jincheon National Training Center.
 
Shim's ban was the result of text messages revealed last year that showed Shim insulting her teammates during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Former national team coach Cho Jae-beom is currently in prison for sexually and physically assaulting Shim, and the text messages also sparked an investigation into whether Shim was involved in race fixing, although she has subsequently been cleared.
 
The alleged race fixing accusations date back to the collision between Shim and Choi during the women's 1,000-meter final at the PyeongChang Games, when the two fell while turning the final corner. After a video review, Shim was disqualified and Choi missed out on a medal, falling to fourth place.
 
The nature of Shim's suspension — on the basis of insulting other athletes — has raised questions over how effectively she'll be able to compete with her teammates in the relay event.

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