Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall), who emerged as the ace of the Korean men’s short track speed skating team, took first place in the overall World Cup rankings.
Park Ji-won won the men’s 1,000m second race and the men’s 5,000m relay at the 6th competition of the 2022-23 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Cup held in Dordrecht, the Netherlands on the 12th (local time). With this, he won three gold medals in this event, including the 1,500m gold medal the day before.
Park Ji-won, who won a total of 14 gold medals in the 1st to 6th World Cup competitions this season, earned a total of 1,086 points in the World Cup rankings, taking first place in the individual overall by an overwhelming score. Hong Gyeong-hwan (Goyang City Hall) in second place scored 674 points and Stephen Dubois (Canada) in third place scored 668 points. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the World Cup this season, the ISU awarded a special trophy, the “Crystal Globe,” to the male and female overall winners based on the results of the 1st to 6th competitions, and Park Ji-won became the first winner of the men’s division.
Park Ji-won has not been able to see the light of day in his national team, being pushed by Lin Xiaojun (formerly Chinese naturalized name Lim Hyo-jun) and Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon-do Office). At the time of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, he was not selected as a national team member and could not even step on the Olympic stage. However, Park Ji-won, who regained the Taegeuk mark this season, stood out in every competition as if dispelling the sadness of long unknown.
He swept three gold medals in the first round of the World Cup, announcing the emergence of a new ‘ice ace’. He followed this by winning one gold and three silver medals in the second event, and one gold and two silver medals in the third event. After winning 3 gold medals in the 4th competition and 2 gold medals in the 5th competition바카라사이트, he reached the peak by winning 3 gold medals in the 6th competition, the last World Cup stage of this season.
Park Ji-won said at the awards ceremony, “I wanted to become a part of short track history by becoming the first Crystal Globe winner.” “I haven’t been selected for the national team in recent years. So I wanted to show that I came back this season,” he said. “That is why I wanted to do my best in every game.” He also laughed, saying, “I will keep this trophy by my side when I eat or sleep for a while,” and “I’m just worried about how to carry such a big trophy on a plane and take it home.” Park Ji-won will also challenge for multiple gold medals at the 2023 ISU World Short Track Championships, which will be held at the ice rink in Mok-dong, Seoul next month.
The overall championship in the women’s World Cup was won by Shizaner Swielting (Netherlands) who scored 1,062 points. Gilly Kim of Korea placed 4th with 700 points.