Park Ji-won, Kim Gil-li win short track World Cup season titles

Olympic Sports

Published: 19 Feb. 2024, 13:37 Updated: 19 Feb. 2024, 16:57

Park Ji-won, Kim Gil-li win short track World Cup season titles

Crystal Globe winners Park Ji-won, left, and Kim Gil-li pose for a photo at the International Skating Union Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Gdansk, Poland on Sunday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Korean short track speed skaters Park Ji-won and Kim Gil-li won the overall titles for the 2023-24 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Cup series after medaling in the season’s last race on Sunday.

Park came in at 1:28.193 and took gold in the men’s 1,000 meters held in Gdansk, Poland, surpassing silver medalist countryman Kim Gun-woo by 0.111 seconds.

Sunday’s gold was Park’s fifth gold medal and eighth medal at the ISU World Cup this season, having also won three silver.

With the gold, Park topped the overall standings with 1,071 points and received the Crystal Globe — an award created in the 2022-23 season that is given to the skater with the most overall points at the end of a season — for a second straight season.

“I knew that I had to be a frontrunner in the 1000-meter final and maintain the position,” Park told the ISU media team after the race. "I didn’t get nervous and only focused on winning. I believed in myself, and I’m happy that I received the award for a second straight year.”

Park Ji-won, center, reacts at the finish line of the final 1000-meter race at the International Skating Union Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Gdansk, Poland on Sunday. [EPA/YONHAP]

An ISU World Cup season runs across multiple events over two calendar years, with this season consisting of six events running from October 2023 through February this year.

Skaters earn points at each competition and the skater with the most points over a given distance at the end of the season becomes the winner in that distance.

The skater with the most points overall at the end of the season also becomes the overall winner.

Over in the women’s 1,000 meters, Kim Gil-li took silver after finishing the race at 1:33.037, falling 0.093 seconds behind gold medalist Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States.

Kim surpassed Santos-Griswold on the overall standings, however, topping the rankings with 1,211 points — 31 points above the American skater — and becoming the first-ever Korean female skater to win the Crystal Globe.

The 19-year-old displayed remarkable form at this season’s ISU World Cup, winning seven gold and three silver.

“I can’t describe in words how happy I am,” Kim told the ISU media team. “My goal was to be the best. I still can’t believe I made it. My next goal is to win the world championships.”

Kim competed at the 2023 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Seoul last year, but failed to medal in any individual race.

She may have a chance to redeem that failure and achieve her dream this year, with the 2024 world championships beginning in the Netherlands next month.

As for Park, it will be an opportunity to add another world championship medal, having secured five medals at the tournament so far, including three medals — two gold and one bronze — at last year’s competition.

Despite his medal-rich career, the 27-year-old has yet to make his Olympics debut as he failed to pass the national team selection contest ahead of both the 2018 PyeongChang and 2022 Beijing Olympics.

He may still have a shot at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics in Italy.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]