South Korea claimed victory in all three speed skating events today to match Japan’s clean sweep yesterday at the Asian Winter Games.
The 2018 Winter Olympic hosts proved more suited to a program of longer distance and team events today than on the sprint event.
Kim Bo-Reum was among the winners by triumphing over 5,000 metres in 7min 12.58sec at the Obihiro Forest rink.
It marked a first gold after two silvers in the 3,000m and team pursuit events.
Han Mei of China, who skated in the same heat as Kim, finished 3.36sec behind to win silver.
Mai Kiyama of Japan took bronze in 7:16.24 as the host nation’s 100 per cent winning record in women’s speed skating finals here came to an end.
Vancouver 2010 Olympic champion Lee Seung-Hoon then added the men’s 10,000m title to his 5,000m crown.
He clocked 13.18.56 for the longer event to finish 5.18 clear of Japan’s Ryosuke Tsuchiya.
Tsuchiya’s team-mate Seitaro Ichinohe took a distant bronze in 13:44.73.
It marked an identical top three to in the 5,000m final.
South Korean trio Joo Hyong-Jun, Kim Min-Seok and Lee-Seung-Hoon won the team pursuit in an Asian record time of 3:44.32.
They beat the host nation Japan, who come second in 3:45.93.
Kazakhstan beat China to bronze in 4:03.20.
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.