Olympic short track champion Park Seung-hi spurs growth in speed skating

Park Seung-hi, 22, former short track skater and now speed skater, is on a relentless roll.

On Sunday, Park finished first at 39:05 seconds at the 1st tournament the women’s 500m division B (Second league) of the 2014-2015 International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup, which was held in Obihiro, Japan.

As she came in second at 39:33 seconds in the first race on Friday, Park has qualified to race in the second round of the World Cup women’s 500m division A (first league) tournament to be held in Seoul from Friday. The ISU gives the right to race in the following tournament division A to the top five finishers of the 1st tournament short-distance division B races.

Park is rising like a comet in her performance growth. She transferred to speed skating from short track in August 2014 and won the right to represent Korea in the world championship qualifiers in October. Her record is improving rapidly. In an officially acknowledged timed race in October, she marked 41:00 seconds then clocked 39:05 in the second race of the World Cup, shaving off 1:95 seconds just 20 days later.

Speed skate sprint queen Lee Sang-hwa, 25, came in first place at 37:92 seconds in her women’s 500m division A second race. She won her first race and has been on a gold medal steak for 10 consecutive events in the women’s 500m in her World Cup series from the second race in the 2012-2013 World Cup Finals.