Skaters Hwang Dae-hun, Lin Xiaojun clash in long-awaited showdown

Korea's Hwang Dae-hun and China's Lin Xiaojun, both national skaters, will compete against each other in the 2023-2024 International Skating Union (ISU) first round in Montreal, Canada. This marks their return to the ISU after four years since 2019, during which both represented Korea.

Once regarded as top talents on Korea's Men’s Short Track team during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, these skaters faced a significant fallout in 2019 when Hwang accused Lin of sexual harassment, citing an incident at the Jincheon National Training Center. Lin was convicted in the initial ruling on May 7, 2020, and later became a Chinese citizen on June 3. However, on May 27, 2021, Korea's Supreme Court acquitted Lin, clearing his name.

Lin was ineligible for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to IOC regulations that require newly naturalized athletes to wait three years before participating under their new nationalities. Meanwhile, Hwang secured the gold in the Men's 1,500-meter Short Track event at the Olympics.

Lin began competing internationally as a representative of China in the previous season. However, Hwang and Lin had not previously competed against each other in global competitions until now because Hwang didn't make the national team last season.


Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com