Skeleton racer Yoon Sung-bin makes headway from early days of new season

Skeleton racer Yoon Sung-bin makes headway from early days of new season. December. 31, 2016 07:13. by Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com. Yoon Sung-bin (22), one of the most promising Korean skeleton racers, is making headway from early days of the new season.

Yoon, who acquired a gold medal during eight Skeleton World Cup championships in the past season, won the gold medal at the new season’s first World Cup in Whistler, Canada, before winning a bronze at the second World Cup held in Lake Placid, the U.S. Yoon is thus constantly achieving his goal. “I will take the podium at all the championships,” Yoon said. He achieved "all podiums (winning a medal in all championships)" except one event last season. The only event that he failed to win a medal last year was the season’s opener.

This reporter asked what Yoon feels about stellar performance he has displayed from the very first event, unlike in previous years. “I feel great, of course (Laughter). I feel wonderful as I win a medal from the first championship. I am the kind of athlete who starts outperforming after halfway through a season," Yoon said. "In the last season as well, I completely failed and only ranked 12 in the first event. However, I continuously won prizes from the next event. But then, since I have good outcome from the very beginning, I have more expectations in this season.”

However, he cannot afford to be complacent prematurely. Altenburg in Germany where the third World Cup will take place on January 7 is the very site he ranked 12th in the previous season. It is true that he lacks understanding about tracks in Europe where he has relatively less experience than those in North America such as Lake Placid where he has had ample experience. “Nevertheless, I was able to figure out characteristics of the track through experience last year, although it would not be adequate,” Yoon said. “For this reason, my performance starting with European events is very important.”

Yoon will depart for Germany on Sunday, New Year’s Day, to take part in the third through seventh World Cup championships, and will return to Korea while skipping World Championship late February. He will do so because he thinks that it is more helpful to take training to adapt himself to the track at Alpensia in Pyeongchang, the venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Due to the characteristics of the sport, the more times an athlete rides on a track, the fewer mistakes he or she makes on the track and thus can improve performance.

However, the home turf does not necessarily warrant a better performance for a skeleton racer. One has to overcome the burden of fans’ high expectations that their athlete would "naturally perform better" due to home-turf advantage. Nonetheless, Yoon himself did not seem to be very concerned. “If an athlete is to outperform others, he has to ride on all different tracks well.” An athlete who can only ride on one track well cannot display good performance for a long time. First off, I wish to ride well on all different tracks constantly and stably. If I can do that, I think I will display good performance in Pyeongchang as well.”

When this reporter reminded Yoon of Bill Shankley’s words “Form is instantaneous but class is eternal,” Yoon replied. “When one rides on all different tracks well, then the class will become eternal.”

When this reporter asked Yoon what his "New Year’s wish" was about this time a year ago, he gave the same answer: “I wish to have a girlfriend,” as Seo Yong-woo (25) in the bobsleigh team. Seo had his dream come true three months later, but Yoon has yet to find one. “I have given up now,” Yoon said, smiling. This reporter again asked Yoon what his New Year’s wish is, and he said, “I am not very sick but I have had several minor injuries. I just hope that I can concentrate on the sport 100 percent of my energy without suffering any injury.” Yoon has demonstrated that he has matured significantly over the past year.