Published : Feb. 3, 2022 - 09:33
In this EPA file photo from Jan. 7, 2022, Jung Seung-gi of South Korea competes in the men's skeleton race at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Cup in Winterberg, Germany. (EPA-Yonhap)
BEIJING -- Jung Seung-gi, the rising star in South Korean men's skeleton, will be competing in his first Winter Olympics in Beijing this month. But this isn't his first taste of the Olympic experience.
Four years ago in the South Korean alpine town of PyeongChang, Jung had the honor of carrying the Olympic Flag into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony, along with three other teenage athletes. Now 22, Jung will be carrying the hope of a nation starving for the next big thing in sliding sports.
Following his first training run at Yanqing National Sliding Centre in Yanqing District, some 70 kilometers northwest of Beijing, on Wednesday, Jung said he should start trusting himself more.
"I think I've been trying to control my sled too much. I need to have more faith in my own abilities," Jung said. "I'll just let the sled take its course."
Jung's rise this season has coincided with the decline of Yun Sung-bin, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist. While Yun failed to grab any medal during this past International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup season, Jung earned his first career medal, a bronze, on New Year's Eve in Latvia. No other South Korean grabbed a medal in the World Cup campaign.
Yun has been unusually hard on himself in recent interviews, repeatedly saying he doesn't see himself as a medal contender. Yun also admitted he wasn't having as much fun now as he had in PyeongChang.
Jung, on the other hand, is having a whale of a time.
"This is fun. I am not quite satisfied with my time here, but now that I am in the Olympics, I am having a great time," Jung said with a smile. "Just walking around the athletes' village has been unbelievable. I've been in skeleton for seven to eight years now, and competing in the Olympics means the world to me."
For PyeongChang, South Korean sliders had the advantage of being able to train on the Olympic track and learn all of its nooks and crannies. They will have limited opportunities to figure out the Yanqing track this time.
Jung said the track was in much better shape than it had been in October last year during the first International Training Period. The Chinese sliders may have an edge this time, but Jung said he is only focusing on himself.
"Whether it's athletes from China or other countries, I am trying not to check their times," Jung said. "It's going to be a battle against myself."
As for his medal prospects, Jung said, "There's no reason for me not to win a medal here. I'll prepare the best I can." (Yonhap)