[OLY] Speed skater captures surprise silver: Yonhap

By Lim Chang-won Posted : February 20, 2018, 08:30 Updated : February 20, 2018, 08:30

[Yonhap News Photo]


SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Aju News) -- South Korea won another surprise medal from speed skating at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics -- this time, a silver by Cha Min-kyu in the men's 500 meters.

With a time of 34.42 seconds, Cha finished only 0.01 second behind the gold medalist, Havard Lorentzen of Norway. Cha tied the Olympic record with eight skaters remaining before Lorentzen nipped him by one-hundredth of a second two pairs later.

Cha, 24, is the third speed skating medalist for South Korea at Pyeongchang, after Kim Min-seok (men's 1,500m) and Lee Sang-hwa (women's 500m). While Lee entered the competition as a strong medal contender, both Cha and Kim came out of the blue to snatch their first Olympic medals.

Also on Monday, the South Korean women's curling team stayed hot, while the two-man bobsleigh team went cold. Led by skip Kim Eun-jung, South Korea improved to 5-1 in round-robin action with a 7-6 victory over Sweden at Gangneung Curling Centre. South Korea and Sweden are now tied in first place with three matches remaining.

The top four nations after the round robin play will reach the semifinals. Ranked eighth in the world, South Korea has previously taken down world No. 1 Canada, No. 2 Switzerland and No. 4 Britain. The only loss so far has come against sixth-ranked Japan.
(Yonhap)
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