Lee Seung-hoon wins mass start at ISU Speed Skating Championships ...

Lee Seung-hoon managed his race as if racing in short-track skating. He had conserved his physical stamina by racing behind rival skaters through the race, and came from behind to race at fourth place when he had one and a half rounds to go to finish. In the last corner, he skated in the inner section of the course and finally outpaced the front-runner.

“I was only targeting the final moment, and found an opportunity as I had sought.” Lee Seung-hoon (28), Korea’s flagship long-distance speed skater, won the gold medal in the men’s mass start competition of the ISU World Speed Skating Championship.

Lee defeated Arjan Stroetinga of the Netherlands by a gap of 0.06 seconds by posting a time of 7:18:26 in the race that took place in Kolomna Skating Center in Russia on Monday. Lee said, “My experience in short track skating was surely helpful in mass start. I have also gained self-confidence ahead of the Olympics.” Mass start, in which a multiple number of skaters race 16 rounds of 400-meter track without having designated lanes, is similar to short track skating in that skaters engage in war of nerves and see their ranks vary depending on how they compete with rivals for their positions on the track.

Kim Bo-reum (23), who acquired the silver with a time of 8:17:66 in women’s mass start competition on the same day, also converted into speed skating from short track skating. Kim was influenced by Lee after the latter won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter race at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and changed her sport.

Meanwhile, Noh Do-hee (20), a member of the Korean female short track team, ranked first with a time of 1:33:947 in the second final of women’s 1,000-meter race at the sixth event of the 2016 ISU Short Track World Cup. Noh, who thus acquired her first gold medal in the individual competition at the World Cup, rose to seventh in world rankings due to the latest win. The Korean national short-track team concluded this season’s World Cup after acquiring 22 golds, 14 silvers, and 17 bronzes.

강홍구기자 windup@donga.com