Korean Wins Junior Speed Skating Title

Female speed skating prodigy Kim Yu-rim (16, Uijeongbu Girls High School) became the first Korean to achieve the top combined score in the World Junior Speed Skating Championships yesterday.

After winning the 500m, 1,000m, and 1,500m races, Kim scored 43.906 points on the last day of the championships by finishing the 3,000m race in 4:23:44, giving her 162.759 total points to edge out Martina Sablicova (Czech Republic, 162.817 points) for the top spot.

Lee Yeong-ha won the men’s championships in the same event in 1976 by winning in the 3,000m and 5,000m races. Kim Yu-rim is the first Korean female skater to bring home a World Junior Championship crown.

Lee Ju-yeon (19, Korea National Sport University) was the runner-up in the 500m, 1,000m, and 1,500m events. She accumulated a total combined score of 163.029 and took third place in the final rankings. The scoring system at the World Junior Speed Skating Championships takes all four 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, and 3,000m finish times and calculate them as 500m races. The better you did, the lower the total points.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com