Skeleton player Yoon Seong-bin clinches the gold medal

Skeleton player Yoon Seong-bin clinches the gold medal. December. 05, 2016 07:10. by Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com. “Tiger balm” gained a huge popularity among skeleton players last season, which was sparked by Yoon Seong-bin (aged 22, Korea National Sport University). “We, skeleton players, put warm up cream on before going to the match. I selected the tiger balm with a tiger painting on the lid as I like the hotly feeling the cream gives,” said Yoon. “Players from other nations hated the smell of the balm at first. As my performance increased, however, they began asking where I got the cream and more players started putting on the cream.”

It seems that the tiger balm would enjoy growing popularity this season as Yoon clinched the victory from the very first match of the season. At the opening of the 2016-2017 World Cup season of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation on Sunday, Yoon won the gold medal finishing two runs in 1 minute, 45.86 seconds at the Whistler Sliding Center in Canada. This is the second time Yoon clinched the gold after his first gold in the 7th circuit of last season.

“I’m so happy that I could start the season with good performance," Yoon said. "I will make efforts to keep producing good results.” Cho In-ho, coach of Korean skeleton team, said that as Yoon has kept growing as a player, he is expected to bring about good performance at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics if he maintains good control as a skeleton player.

It is good for Yoon that Martins Dukurs (aged 32, Latvia), who is dubbed as “Usain Bolt in skeleton,” has shown poor performance. Dukurs stopped short of being ranked at the 4th place with 1 minute 46.26 seconds. Although Yoon finished the last season at the 2nd place following Dukurs, there was a large gap in capability-wise between the two.