Korean men's short track speed track Park Ji-won and Hwang Dae-heon took first and fifth places, respectively, in the 1500m final race of the second national team selection event for the 2024-2025 season.
Park Ji-won and Hwang Dae-heon met in the men's 1,500m semifinals at the KB Financial Group's 39th National Men's and Women's Comprehensive Short Track Speed Skating Championships and the second selection competition for the 2024-2025 season short track national team held at the Mokdong Indoor Ice Rink in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul on the 11th.
Park Ji-won and Hwang Dae-heon are entangled in a terrible relationship. Park Ji-won was thwarted from winning the gold medal at the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Championships last month due to a series of fouls by Hwang Dae-heon in the men's 1000m and 1500m finals.
In the men's 500m at the first national team selection competition held on the 5th to 7th, there was a collision between Hwang Dae-heon and Park Ji-won. In the semifinals, Hwang Dae-heon, who was overtaking on the in-course, collided with Park Ji-won. Park Ji-won, who lost her balance and fell, did not make it to the finals.
On this day, there were no major conflicts in Group 3 of the 1500m semifinals. Park Ji-won won a ticket to the finals in first place, and Hwang Dae-heon took third place. Hwang Dae-heon, who had the best record among the three groups in third place, took the last train to the finals.
In the final race, Park Ji-won was in last place at the beginning of the race and had to search, then explosively increased her speed with 9 laps left, and overtook all the competitors while riding almost one lap on the out-course.
Park Ji-won did not give up the lead despite persistent pursuit from competitors. In the last lap, Kim Geon-woo (Sports Toto) attempted to overtake on the out-of-course, but he held it in check and was the first to reach the finish line. Dae-heon Hwang was unable to increase his speed after the middle of the race, and finished the race in 5th place out of 7 people. Park Ji-won, who added 34 ranking points by taking first place in the 1500m, maintained the lead in the first and second qualifying rounds with a total score of 89 points. In the first and second qualifying rounds, 500m, 1000m, and 1500m races will be held, and by adding up the points according to ranking, the top 8 men and 7 women will be selected as the national team for the next season. 섯다