The Korea Herald

지나쌤

S. Korean skeleton slider to compete at world championships with full confidence

By Yonhap

Published : March 7, 2019 - 16:10

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South Korean skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin said Thursday that he is ready to show his best at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Championships.

Yun, the 2018 Winter Olympics gold medalist in men's skeleton, will compete at the IBSF World Championships in Whistler, Canada, on Friday. He is looking for his first gold at the worlds.


(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

"I've been competing this whole season to race at the worlds," Yun said through his Seoul-based agency. "I'm in my best form right now."

After his historic win at the PyeongChang Winter Games, Yun had a tough time maintaining his good form. Due to conflicts over use after the Olympics, the Olympic Sliding Centre, South Korea's sole track for sliding sports in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, was closed and Yun had to go overseas for training.

Despite difficulties, Yun showed that he can still compete against top-class sliders. The 24-year-old didn't miss a podium-finish in eight IBSF World Cups this season, while winning two gold medals.

Yun, who is currently second in IBSF world rankings behind Alexander Tretiakov of Russia, has yet to win a gold medal at the worlds. He finished eighth at the 2015 worlds in Winterberg, Germany, and grabbed silver at the 2016 edition in Innsbruck, Austria.

Yun won IBSF World Cups in Whistler, in 2016 and 2017, and this time he hopes to repeat that success at the worlds.

"Whistler has one of the fastest tracks in the world, and compared to tracks in Europe, it's also rough," he said. "I've really worked hard this year, and I want to prove it with my result." (Yonhap)