Former Olympic speed skating gold medalist Lee Seung-hoon finished well off the podium at the world championships in Russia on Thursday.
Lee finished 10th among 12 skaters in the men's 10,000 meters at the International Skating Union World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Kolomna, Russia. The 2010 Olympic champion in the distance checked in at 13 minutes, 23.73 seconds.
It was nearly 27 seconds worse than Lee's personal best of 12:57.27, set during an ISU World Cup stop in February 2011.
Lee has been concentrating on team pursuit and mass start in recent seasons. He won the silver in team pursuit at the 2014 Winter Olympics, along with a world silver in 2013 and a world bronze in 2015 in the same event.
Lee is scheduled to race in three more events in Russia: the team pursuit on Friday, the 5,000m on Saturday and the mass start on Sunday.
Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the 10,000m in 12:56.77 for his 16th world title. Ted-Jan Bloeman of Canada ranked second at 12:59.69, followed by another Dutchman, Erik Jan Kooiman, at 13:02.15.
In the women's competition, South Korea's Kim Bo-reum finished seventh among 20 skaters in the 3,000m at 4:08.14, 3.52 off her personal best set in November 2013.
Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won the event at 4:03.05 to defend her title. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands finished only 0.08 second behind, while her countrywoman Antoinette de Jong ended in third at 4:04.25. (Yonhap)
