Having recently defended their world titles, South Korean speed skaters Lee Sang-hwa and Mo Tae-bum both said Tuesday they’re confident that they can repeat as Olympic gold medalists next year.

The two arrived home Tuesday after completing their successful World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships last weekend.

Lee won her second straight gold in 500 meters, while Mo grabbed the gold in 500m and silver in 1,000m.

Incidentally, this year’s event was held in Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics next February. At the Vancouver Winter Olympics three years ago, Lee won the women’s 500m gold and Mo took the men’s 500m title.

Lee said her second Olympic gold seems well within reach.

“If I can keep this up, I think I will have good results next year,” she said. “It’s important to be in the right frame of mind at the Olympics.”

It will be quite a task to duplicate the kind of season Lee just enjoyed. She overwhelmed her competition by winning 12 of her

14 races in 500m, and setting the world record of 36.80 seconds in January.

In Sochi last weekend, Lee took the two-leg final in 500m with a combined time of 75.34 seconds. She finished both of her two races in first place. Wang Beixing of China was a distant second at a combined 76.03 seconds.

“I had set out to win the gold but I was trying to focus more on the process than on the result,” the 24-year-old said. “It feels great to have won it all at the end.”

Lee said she didn’t put much thought into competing in Sochi, less than a year from the Winter Games in the same city.

“Sochi felt like a resort town,” she said. “So I felt comfortable there.”

Though it may not seem as though Lee needs much work, she said she is not about to let up in the offseason.

“In 500m, races come down to one-thousandth of a second,” she said. “My focus will be to add speed early in the race and also to improve my cornering.”

Lee had been so dominant all season that she was the favorite to win at the single distances championships. In contrast, Mo Tae-bum had barely reached the podium in his earlier races prior to the championships and both of his medals in Sochi came as a surprise.

In the 500m final, Mo ranked only third in the first leg at 34.94 seconds, 0.14 second behind the leader, Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands. In the second leg, Mo posted the fastest time with 34.82 seconds to claw his way up to first place overall.

Mo admitted he’d lost some of his confidence this season but he drew inspiration from Lee’s success.

“I tried to stay positive and relax since this was the last competition of the season,” Mo said. “The ice in Sochi felt quite similar to Vancouver. I feel pretty good ahead of the Olympics.”

Mo said he wants to add an Olympic medal in 1,000m to his resume in Sochi.

“For me to win the 1,000m race in Sochi, I will have to improve my strength and conditioning,” he said. “I am going to work really hard this summer and have good results in 1,000m.” (Yonhap News)