Beijing, China, February 19, 2022: Korea picked up two medals on the last day of speed skating at the National Speed Skating Oval on Saturday afternoon.
They both came in the men’s mass start, as Chung Jae-won finished second to take silver behind new Olympic champion Bart Swings of Belgium.
Chung’s teammate, 33-year-old veteran Lee Seung-hoon, the defending champion from PyeongChang 2018, won the bronze in a photo finish with Joey Mantia of the United States after coming close to pulling off a late surge that appeared to have left the field in his wake over the last half a lap.
In a 16-lap race that offers bonus points for the first three finishers in each of three intermediate sprints, Swings earned 60 points for outright victory plus three bonus points for finishing second in one sprint and third in another, for a total of 63 points.
Chung, only 20 years old, took silver with 40 points for his second-place finish, and Lee earned 20 points for third place. This was Lee’s sixth Olympic medal dating back to Vancouver 2010, with two gold, three silver and now one bronze. Swings won silver behind Lee in this race four years ago, so has upgraded from silver to gold.
Despite losing his Olympic crown, Lee was far from down.
“This is so glorious,” he said. “This is my first bronze medal in the Olympic Games. I am so satisfied.
“I used more energy than I thought in the semi-finals. If I hadn't done that, I might have had a chance to get gold. It’s a pity but getting a medal is more than enough for me. I can’t ask for more.
“I planned to accelerate in the final lap to get into the top places. There were already a few athletes on the outer side, so I did as planned, and then my physical condition was better than I had anticipated.”
Korea have now won nine medals, with two gold, five silver and two bronze – all of them in short track (five) and speed skating (four).
The defending women’s champion, Nana Takagi of Japan, slid out on the last bend of the second semi-final in remarkably similar scenes to the women’s team pursuit on February 15.
On that occasion, Takagi was the back marker in Japan’s three-strong pursuit team and lost her footing on the last bend of the final, allowing Canada to win gold and Japan take silver.
On this occasion she was leading at the bell of the 16-lap mass start race and, coming into the final bend on the inside, once again slid to the ice and out of the race. The accident happened slightly earlier than her fall in the team pursuit, and the cries of anguish could be heard back in Japan as Nana Takagi has lost both her titles from PyeongChang 2018.
She was ranked 14th and last in the second semi-final with a time of 9 minutes, 10.03 seconds. Only the top eight qualified for the final.
Nana, 29, is the older sister of Miho Takagi, who won one gold medal and three silver medals here in Beijing.
Photo: OCA