South Korea, united by Generation Z, flies the Korean flag in Harbin
South Korea, united by Generation Z, flies the Korean flag in Harbin
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Choi Min-jeong (27), Kim Ki-li (21, short track), Kim Min-sun (26, speed skating), Cha Jun-hwan (24), and Lee Chae-woon (19), centered on Gen Z (born in 1996-2010), will heat up Harbin, Haerongjiang Province, China, where the 9th Winter Asian Games will be held, from the 7th of next month.
Asia's Winter Sports Festival, which will be held for the first time in eight years since the Sapporo Asian Games in Japan in 2017, is just a week away. With the slogan of "Dream of Winter, Live among Asia," more than 1,300 athletes from 34 Asian countries will compete for 64 gold medals in 11 sub-categories of six sports, including ice skating, skiing, curling, ice hockey, biathlon and mountain skiing.
Korea will send a total of 223 athletes, including 149 athletes, 52 match executives and 22 headquarters. Korea, which ranked second overall (gold 16, silver 18, bronze 16) in the previous competition, has set its sights on second overall in this competition by banking on its "young blood."
I look forward to Shingoo's ace performance on the ice
Korea has high hopes for short track speed skating, a sport that is beneficial to Korean players. The Korean national short track team, which naturally underwent a generational change after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, is spearheaded by Choi who returned to the ice after taking a year off. Having acquired five medals (Pyeongchang Gold 2, Beijing Gold 1 Silver 2) in the Olympics alone, Choi is considered a strong candidate for gold in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter events.
Emerging ace Kim Ki-li is in double jeopardy with Choi Min-jeong. Kim Ki-li, who has emerged as a leading figure by winning the women's all-around title at the 2023-2024 World Cup, finished preheating by winning five gold medals at the recently concluded Turin Universiade.
In the men's category, Park Ji-won (29), the strongest player, will take the lead. Having been named the Crystal Globe (the season's most valuable player) for the past two consecutive seasons, she will compete with Lin Xiaojun (Korean name Lim Hyo-joon), Sandor Liu and Shaoang Liu, who naturalized as Chinese citizens, for the gold medal.
In speed skating, "New Skating Empress" Kim Min-sun will run in gold. She made her name widely known with five gold medals and one silver medal in the 500-meter events of the first to sixth World Cups of the ISU in the 2022-2023 season. Kim Min-sun, who competes in the main 500-meter events, the 100-meter, 1,000-meter events, and the team sprint, aimed to win medals in all events.
Figure, Curling, Snowboard Attention to New Faces
Cha Jun-hwan of "Figure Prince" is aiming to win his first medal in Korean men's single. Choi Dae-bin (2017 Sapporo Gold) and Kwak Min-jeong (2011 Astana·Almaty Dong) won medals in women's single, but no male single player has won the podium yet.
In the women's curling section, 5G of Gyeonggi Provincial Government will aim for the first Asian Games gold medal in 18 years with the national flag. Four of the five players (Kim Eun-ji, Kim Soo-ji, Seol Ye-ji, Seol Ye-eun, and Kim Min-ji) end with "Ji," and the remaining one, Seol Ye-eun (29), is nicknamed "5G" because she is a pig. They beat Gangneung City Hall of Team Kim (Kim Eun-jung, Kim Kyung-ae, Kim Cho-hee, Kim Sun-young, and Kim Young-mi), who won silver medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics, in the final of the domestic curling super league earlier this month to win the first championship. 메이저사이트
Lee Chae-woon, the snowboard men's halfpipe gold medalist, is also a strong candidate. At the age of 16, he became the youngest person (16 years and 10 months) to win a gold medal at the 2023 FIS World Championships. Lee Seung-hoon, 20, who became the first Korean to win a gold medal at the halfpipe event, is also a dark horse that will shine at the championships.