Gangneung, Korea, January 26, 2024: The President of the International Skating Union, Mr. Kim Jae Youl, was a proud man at the Gangneung Oval on Friday afternoon.
Not only was he impressed with Korea’s hosting of the first Winter Youth Olympic Games in Asia, he was also delighted with the technical quality of the skaters both on the short track and inside the oval.
“I am extremely proud because the competitions are going really well,” he said, after presenting the medals on the last day of the speed skating competition.
“The young athletes are enjoying the venues, the competitions and the atmosphere, and the international guests are also appreciating the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024.
“The Youth Olympic Games is a unique platform where the young, the next generation of stars are competing at the global level.
“We will be seeing many of these young athletes in the years to come at the Olympics, World Cup and World Championships. We are very, very excited.”
The ISU President picked out Germany’s Finn Sonnekalb, 16, as a real talent for the future after he won the 500m, 1500m and, on Friday, the men’s mass start.
“We are so happy to see the German skater, Finn. He skated really well in long track. In short track also we had many countries on the podium. We had a Kazakhstan skater on the podium in short track and that was a great surprise,” he added, referring to Polina Omelchuk’s bronze medal in the women’s 1000 metres.
“Even the skaters that are not on the podium…a Brazilian skater did really well in short track and went to the semifinals, and the other great skater was a skater from the Philippines in short track. He skated really well, so I am really excited about the emergence of these traditionally non-skating country athletes doing well on the world stage.”
The Philippines short tracker referred to was Peter Joseph Groseclose, who reached the final of the men’s 500 metres and finished fifth.
The winter sports boom in Asia has seen PyeongChang host the 2018 Winter Olympics, Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics and now Gangwon province host the fourth Winter YOG and the first in Asia. The winter sports circuit moves to Harbin, China in February 2025 for the OCA’s 9th Asian Winter Games.
The ISU President is already looking forward to it. “I am very excited that we are having the Asian Winter Games because the last one we had was 2017. I am very happy that China, Harbin, decided to host the Games, and we will have another one in 2029 in Saudi Arabia. There will be a great opportunity to develop skating in the Middle East,” he said.