Olympic champion Lee Sang-hwa finished second in the opening 500-meter race at the International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup in Seoul on Friday, as her early season winning streak was snapped unceremoniously on home ice.
Lee, the two-time Olympic champ, finished second among 20 skaters with a time of 38.18 seconds at Taeneung International Rink. Nao Kodaira of Japan, who skated alongside Lee in the final pairing, won the title in 38.05 seconds.
The second 500 race is scheduled for Saturday.
The Seoul competition is the second of seven World Cup events this season. Lee had won both of the 500 races in the first leg held in Japan last week.
Korea’s Lee Sang-hwa competes in the 500-meter race on Friday. (Yonhap)
This was Lee’s first loss at a World Cup since March 2013, when she won the bronze in the opening 500 race in the World Cup final.
She won seven World Cup titles in the 500 last season and grabbed her second straight Olympic gold in the distance in Sochi, Russia, in February.
Lee, who owns the world record of 36.36 seconds, was ahead of Kodaira after the first 100 meters, 10.41 seconds to 10.51 seconds, but the Japanese charged out in front after the final turn for the victory.
Kodaira had finished second behind Lee in each of the two 500 races last week.
Also in the women’s 500, Park Seung-hi, former short track star, finished 11th in her Division A debut in 39.13 seconds.
Park switched from short track to the long oval in August, and made the national team in October.
In last week’s World Cup in Japan, Park won the second 500 race in Division B with a personal best time of 39.05, earning the promotion to Division A for this week. (Yonhap)
