2022 Beijing Olympics short track gold medalist Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon-do Office) is getting closer to participating in the individual event at the International Skating Union (ISU) International Competition in the 2023/24 season.
Hwang Dae-heon won the men’s 1500m and 500m runner-up in the 2023/24 season short track national short track 2nd selection held at the Jincheon National Training Center in Chungcheongbuk-do on the 22nd.
The national team for the next season will be selected by adding up the results of the 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds in a total of 6 events. In order to compete in the individual event of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Series, a player must finish in the top two places in the men’s division.
Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall) won the men’s 1000m and 1500m events at the 2023 ISU Short Track World Championships held last month and was automatically selected as the national team for the new season.
Hwang Dae-heon swept 55 points from the selection competitions in the two events that day, and his total score from the first competition jumped to 68 points.
The Korea Ice Skating Federation awards 34 points, 21 points, 13 points, 8 points, 5 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point for each event to the top 1 to 8 in each event.
Previously, Hwang Dae-heon performed extremely poorly in the first selection contest held at the same place on the 18th and 19th.
He finished in 8th place with 13 points as he failed to medal in all three events.
Hwang Dae-heon, the men’s 1500m gold medalist at the Beijing Winter Olympics last year, withdrew from the national team selection two months later due to the aftermath of Corona 19, and was unable to participate in the national team in the 2022/23 season. Participating in the competition seemed to be going nowhere.
However, the first day of the second competition on the 22nd was different.
In the 1500m final, which consisted of 13 and a half laps around the 111.12m track, Hwang Dae-heon tirelessly played on the ice in the top group, but after leaving 4 laps in front, he sprinted. He won the championship by pushing Lim Yong-jin (Goyang City Hall) and Kim Geon-woo (Sports Toto) to 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, and scored 34 points in the preliminary round.
In the 500m final that followed, Hwang Dae-heon placed second behind Seo Ira (Hwaseong City Hall) and scored 21 points in the preliminary round. As in the 1500m, third place went to Kim Kun-woo.
Accordingly, Hwang Dae-heon, with only one event left in the 1000m event on the 23rd, soared in the men’s joint first place with Kim Kun-woo (68 points). As long as he maintains his current ranking, he will be able to compete for the national team next season with the Taegeuk mark.
Kim Kun-woo scored 42 points in the first tournament and 26 points that day to tie with Hwang Dae-heon. Third place is Seo Ra-ra (55 points). Lee Jeong-min (Korea National Sport University) and Jang Seong-woo (Korea University) scored 42 points. 안전놀이터
In the women’s division, Gil-ri Kim (Seongnam City Hall) won the 1500m race that day, securing 34 points, adding 55 points from the first competition to 89 points. Shim Seok-hee (Seoul City Hall) won the 500m on the day and finished 6th in the 1500m, she added 37 points in the starting round, bringing the total to 79 points in the 1st and 2nd rounds.
Kim A-rang (Goyang City Hall) 55 points, Park Ji-won (Jeonbuk Provincial Office) 53 points, and Lee So-yeon (Sports Toto) 50 points follow. In the women’s division, the top three players will compete in the individual event at the next season’s ISU-sponsored international competition.