GANGNEUNG, Gangwon Province -- South Korean short tracker Shim Suk-hee, one of the most anticipated athletes of Team Korea at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, on Tuesday finally won her first medal, after falling short of the podium in previous events.
The South Korean team won the women's 3,000 meter relay.
The 21-year-old skater raked in three medals at the 2014 Winter Games as a high school student, emerging as a prominent medal hopeful in PyeongChang. In Sochi, Shim captured gold in the 3,000 meter relay, silver in 1,500m, and bronze in 1,000m.
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Shim Suk-hee (Yonhap) |
In the first two individual events of Shim's PyeongChang schedule, however, the skater failed to meet her potential.
In the heat for the women's 500m race held a day after the grand opening of the 2018 Winter Games, Shim finished in third place, missing the final.
Shim finished last by slipping and falling during the heat for the women's 1,500m race, casting doubt over her goal to win multiple medals in PyeongChang.
The skater, however, made a major contribution in having the female team pass preliminaries for the 3,000m relay earlier, which indicated the weaker-than-expected performances at individual events were due more to bad luck than her slump.
At the relay heat, Lee Yu-bin fell down with 23 laps remaining, but Shim, along with her teammates Choi Min-jeong and Kim Ye-jin, quickly narrowed gap with rivals, helping the team to continue its journey.
Shim started skating at the age of seven, and quickly emerged as a new star for South Korea, a short track speed skating powerhouse which has won medals in every Olympics after it became an official event.
In 2012, Shim won two golds in the 500m and 1,000m races at the Winter Youth Olympics, which brought her the first attention of her career.
For the 2017-2018 season of the International Skating Union World Cup, she captured gold in 1,000m and 1,500m, and won two golds in the 3,000m relay.
In 2017 Winter Asian Games, Shim grabbed two golds in the 1,000m and relay, along with silver in the 1,500m.
Standing 175 centimeters tall, Shim's physical strength stands out from rivals, making her one of the fastest skaters on ice.
The skater suffered an unsavory incident last month after allegedly being assaulted by her own coach, who was sacked immediately.
While the public expressed concern over how the incident might affect her performance at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Shim continued with her training, reiterating that she will nevertheless try her best at the Olympics.
Shim also passed the women's 1,000m heat held on Tuesday ahead of the relay final. (Yonhap)
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