First Ever Skeleton Gold For Korea

Neil Simmons
Feb 19, 2018
2 min read

The host nation won their first ever medal in skeleton and what a way to do it as local hero Sungbin Yun took gold.

The home crowd were ecstatic as Yun went into his fourth and final run already one second ahead of the World Champion, Latvia’s Martins Dukurs. Yun did not let the local support down as he set a track record of 50.02 seconds which increased his overall lead to 1.63.

Nikita Tregubov, representing the OAR, took silver but had to put in a massive final run. The Junior World Champion was in fourth place but his fast time saw him catapult into the silver medal position which moved Dukurs down the rankings.

Great Britain cast aside a 70 year wait for a medal in the men’s skeleton as Dominic Parsons put in a stellar performance to take the bronze medal.

“That was incredibly emotional. After my last run, I thought that I had just missed out on a medal. I couldn't really believe it to begin with,” said Parsons.

Silver medallist Tregubov said, ““That was really close and the battle for the medal went on right to the end. Sungbin Yun is very strong and I just tried to do my best. To keep my cool, I just thought about my family and friends at home.”

The final words were left to the local hero Sungbin Yun who commented that he wasn’t really feeling any pressure. “Lots of people were asking if I was under more pressure being the favourite. But I didn't really feel it. I really feel at home on this track and knew that I could be great.”

OFFICIAL RESULT

GOLD – Sungbin Yn (KOR) – 3:20.55

SILVER – Nikita Tregubov (OAR) – 3;22.18

BRONZE – Dominic Parsons (GBR) – 3:22.20

4th – Martin Dukurs (LAT) – 3:22.31

5th – Tomass Dukurs (LAT) – 3:22.74

6th – Jisoo Kim (KOR) – 3:22.98

7th – Axel Jungk (GER) – 3:23.60

8th – Christopher Grotheer (GER) – 3:24.05

9th – Alexander Gassner (GER) – 3:24.10

10th – Jerry Rice (GBR) – 3:24.24

11th – Matt Antoine (USA) – 3:24.39