Resistance and speed: Korea and Japan win gold in long track speed skating

It was a spectacular Sunday morning in Eastern New York, totally clear skies and radiant sun. Such was the setting for the first long track speed ​​skating event of the Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, the 1000m.

The stands began to fill up well before the start of competition at the Olympic Oval, while the 36 athletes entered in the women’s race were starting their warm-up laps.

The contest was exciting and very close, especially for second and third place, with only seven hundredths of a second separating silver medallist Iga Wojtasik of Poland (1:21.78) and Chaeeun Park of Korea (1:21.85).

But the day belonged to Minsun Kim, also from Korea, who won gold with a new track-record time of 1:20.46.

“I’m happy because it’s my first season and I have performed well so far,” said the very proud winner. “Today’s record was a bit behind my best times because of the weather conditions. But it was an amazing achievement.”

Speed ​​skating is a tough test where athletes must show great resistance and speed. Kim says she especially likes the individuality of her sport.

“It’s a sport in which you can have your own performance achieve, by your own diligent training and your own efforts. This is the most interesting thing.”

The 36-athlete men’s race followed and, through each set of two and a half laps around the track, the large crowd relentlessly cheered on the lightning-fast competitors.

First place went to Kazuya Yamada from Japan with a time of 1:12.38, also a new track record. Japanese teammate Taiyo Nonomura followed in 1:12.50, with Canada’s David La Rue rounding out the podium in 1:12.57.

“I’m really satisfied with the competition. I dedicate this achievement to my parents and my brothers, and I also want to say thanks to all my speed ​​skating family,” said Yamada. “Now the following goals are to achieve good results for the next competitions that I’m going to have over the next week.”

The Lake Placid 2023 speed skating competition continues on Monday with the women’s 3000m and men’s 5000m.

Written by Julieta Boschiazzo, FISU Young Reporter

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