Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon wins mass start gold at World Cup Final

Published : Mar 13, 2017 - 09:30 Updated : Mar 13, 2017 - 09:38

South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon has capped off a strong season with yet another international title.

Lee won the mass start gold medal at the International Skating Union World Cup Speed Skating Final in Stavanger, Norway, on Sunday (local time), with the time of 8:07.74. He beat Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands by 0.09 second.

South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon (Yonhap)

This was Lee's second World Cup victory of the season. He collected 150 points from the win and ended the World Cup season as the first overall in the mass start with 412 points.

Lee also won the mass start gold medal at the Sapporo Asian Winter Games last month, while competing with eight stitches in his right leg. He'd sustained the injury in a fall during the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in early February in South Korea.

Skaters all start simultaneously in the mass start, where some physical contact is allowed and race planning is at a premium. Lee, a former short track speed skater, has thrived in the niche event, which has become an Olympic sport for the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea's PyeongChang.

Lee stayed in the back of the pack for most of the race Sunday before nipping Bergsma at the line for the gold.

In the women's mass start, South Korean Kim Bo-reum finished in second place by 0.06 second.

Irene Schouten of the Netherlands was the champion in 8:45.69, denying Kim her third World Cup win of the season. But Kim still finished first overall for the World Cup season with 460 points.

Kim charged out in front with four laps remaining and looked poised for the gold, until Schouten sprinted past her at the line. (Yonhap)