South Korean Olympic speedskating empress Lee Sang-hwa is set to compete in the women‘s 500 meters speedskating against archrival Nao Kodiara of Japan at Gangneung Oval on Sunday.Lee, a two-time champion in the women’s 500 meters, holds the world record in for the distance at 36.36 seconds, a mark she achieved in 2013. Kodaira, however, has fiercely threatened Lee’s record, establishing a personal best of 36.5 seconds at the fourth ISU World Cup Speed Skating competition in December last year. L

More than 90 percent of all tickets at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics have been sold, according to the organizing committee Saturday.“The rate of tickets sold has reached 92.8 percent, with 991,000 of the total 1,068,000 tickets at the Games sold,” Sung Baik-you, spokesperson for the PyeongChang Olympic organizing committee, said at a press conference at the Main Press Centre in PyeongChang. (Yonhap)Of the combined 92,000 tickets for Saturday, 90,000 have been purchased, marking the biggest dai

President Moon Jae-in will attend the short track speed skating finals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Saturday evening, his aides said.  (Cheong Wa Dae)Moon will cheer for Korean athletes competing in the men's 1,000 meters and the women's 1,500 meters at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung.He will also meet journalists covering the Olympics and host a dinner with organizing committee officials and volunteers, they said. (Yonhap) 

 South Korean skeleton sliders' remarkable achievements at the PyeongChang Olympic Games were largely helped by mental training, the coach of the athletes said Saturday.South Korea saw Yun Sung-bin become the first Asian to claim the gold medal in the men's skeleton Friday, while his teammate Kim Ji-soo took sixth in his Winter Games debut.South Korean skeleton sliders Yun Sung-bin (L) with the gold medal and Kim Ji-soo pose for a photo at Team Korea House in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb.

With two gold medals already under its belt, South Korea is looking for gold medals in both the men’s and women‘s short track speedskating events at the PyeongChang Games later Saturday.Lim Hyo-jun, who earned the country its first gold on Feb. 10 in the men’s 1,500 meters, will compete alongside compatriots Seo Yi-ra and Hwang Dae-heon in the men’s 1,000 final.Choi Min-jeong (Yonhap)Choi Min-jeong, who initially placed second but was disqualified in a controversial ruling in the women’s 500-met

An employee at Gangneung Media Village, a residential apartment complex used by media personnel covering the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, was found dead Saturday, according to police.  (Yonhap)The 55-year-old, only identified by his surname Kim, was found dead at 6:45 a.m. at his temporary apartment in the village, located in the sub-host city of Gangneung, according to police.Kim reportedly complained of having chest pains after dining with co-workers Friday evening. He was discovered by a co-w

South Korean national bobsleigh and skeleton team head coach Lee Yong on Saturday called for more financial support for snow sports, saying such backing can produce Olympic medalists like his pupil Yun Sung-bin.Lee, who has been coaching bobsledders and skeleton sliders since 2011, said he burst into tears when Yun won the gold medal in the men's skeleton at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday, becoming the first Asian to stand on an Olympic podium in sledding sports. He said the 23-year-o

GANGNEUNG -- Now an Olympic gold medalist, South Korean skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin said Saturday he wants to see more of his compatriots standing on the podium at international competitions in the future.Yun became the first Asian to win a medal in sledding sports at the Winter Olympics after claiming gold in the men’s skeleton Friday. At Olympic Sliding Centre, he was the fastest one to cross the finish line in all four heats, with a combined time of 3 minutes, 20.55 seconds.Yun Sung-bin (Yon

South Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa will compete for her third Olympic gold medal on Sunday, as the bobsleigh tandem of Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo begins their hunt for a spot on the podium in the two-man bobsleigh event at the PyeongChang Winter Games.Lee will compete in the women's 500m speed skating event at Gangneung Oval in the sub-host city of Gangneung. The two-time Olympic champion is betting everything on the 500m race, having dropped out of Wednesday's 1,000m event to focus on S

Two athletes from Switzerland have contracted norovirus during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, team officials said Friday.The two unidentified athletes are the first Olympians to be infected by the virus, which is known to cause stomach pain and diarrhea. Hundreds of security officers and others working at the Olympics had previously been affected.(Yonhap)Team Swiss said the two athletes were taken to single rooms and treated by team doctors. They haven't been staying at the athletes' village,

South Korea’s female curling team, which ranks eighth in the world, defeated second-ranked Switzerland Friday after dispatching first-ranked Canada in a surprise victory Thursday. The Korean team won 8-6 against Canada and 7-5 against Switzerland.The four-member Korean team is composed of Kim Yeong-mi, Kim Seon-yeong, Kim Kyeong-ae and Kim Eun-jung. The women’s team still have to win four more games to advance to the semifinals, having lost to Japan on Thursday evening. After the preliminary rou

Olympian Yuzuru Hanyu leads the men’s short program figure skating after receiving a score of 111.68 on Friday.Shoma Uno, Hanyu’s fellow Japanese Olympian, came in third with 104.17.Hanyu and Uno are respectively first and second in the world men’s figure skating rankings.Pooh bears for Yuzuru Hanyu (EPA-Yonhap)A storm of Pooh bears for Yuzuru Hanyu (EPA-Yonhap)A flower girl carries the gifts given to Yuzuru Hanyu (EPA-Yonhap)On Thursday, spectator seats were crowded with Japanese fans craning t

The sole athlete from Ghana at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Friday thanked his Korean financial backer and supporters for making his dream of competing at the Olympics come true. Akwasi Frimpong of Ghana (Yonhap)Skeleton slider Akwasi Frimpong from Ghana, who is also the only athlete representing the West African country, came in last, at 30th, at the men's skeleton event held at Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang on Friday. South Korea's Yun Sung-bin won gold, becoming the first Asian to

The first Asian to win medal in skeleton, the first Korean Winter Olympic medalist from non-skating sports

South Korean figure skating star Cha Jun-hwan broke his personal best score in the short program at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday, becoming the first South Korean man to capture a ticket to free skating in 20 years.The 16-year-old gained a personal high of 83.43 points to place 15th in the men's singles figure skating short program held in Gangneung Ice Arena. His previous best was 82.34 set at the 2017 Junior World Championships.It is also 5.73 points higher than the 77.70 he earned