Yoon Seong-bin ranks 2nd in 2 consecutive skeleton World Cup competitions

Yoon Seong-bin ranks 2nd in 2 consecutive skeleton World Cup competitions. January. 18, 2016 07:37. wing@donga.com.

Yoon Seong-bin (22), the flagship player of the Korean men’s skeleton team, has again narrowed his gap with Martins Dukurs (Latvia), the world’s champion. He also elevated his world ranking by notch as well.

Yoon ranked second at the fifth competition of the 2015-2015 IBSK World Cup, which took place in Utah, the U.S. on Sunday. IBSK stands for the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. Yoon has won the silver medal in two consecutive World Cup events after the fourth competition that took place a week ago. Yoon recorded a time of 1:38:73 overall from the first and second races. He was 0.38 seconds behind top-ranked Dukurs (1:38:35).

Yoon was 0.88 seconds behind Dukurs at the third competition in December last year when he acquired the bronze medal, but he was lagging 0.48 seconds behind the latter in the fourth competition. He is thus narrowing his gap with Dukurs race after race. “We have high expectations for the remaining World Cup events,” said Richard Bromley, the coach for the Korean skeleton team.

Dukurs, dubbed "Usain Bolt in skeleton" as the silver medalist at the Sochi Winter Olympics, is the champion who has swept the five World Cup events for this season. Yoon added 210 in the fifth competition to his ranking points to post 940 points overall for this season, advancing to the third place in world rankings as well.

Lee Han-shin (29), who participated in the competition with Yoon, recorded a time of 1:41:73 to rank 19th overall. “Lee Han-shin is adequately qualified in skills to join the ranks of the world’s top 10,” Coach Bromley said. "I regret that he has not displayed his full capacity and skills just yet due to mental burden, but he is an athlete who has strong potential.”

The sixth skeleton World Cup competition will take place in Whistler, Canada on January 24. A total of eight skeleton World Cup competitions take place every season.

Meanwhile, the Korean men’s bobsleigh team comprised of Won Yoon-jong (31), Oh Je-han (24), Kim Jin-soo (21), and Kim Kyung-hyun (22) ranked 11th, the highest standing ever for Korea, by recording a time of 1:36:86 overall from the first and second races in the 6th World Cup competition. The previous record for the four-member Korean team in bobsleigh competition was 13th, which Team Korea achieved at the second competition in the 2014-2015 season.