Daeheon Hwang is pressuring Hyojun Lim, who is naturalized in China.
South Korean men’s short track national team member Hwang Dae-heon (24, Gangwon Province) won gold in the 1500 meters at the World Cup. He defeated China’s Lin Xiaojun (27), with whom he had a bitter rivalry during his time with the Korean national team. Hwang Dae-heon was the first to cross the finish line in 2:23.66 in the men’s 1500-meter final of the first International Ice Skating Union (ISU) World Cup event of the 2023-2024 season in Montreal, Canada, on Feb. 22. He beat Belgium’s Stijn Desmut (25 – 2:23.789) by 0.123 seconds, while fellow finalist Kim Gun-woo (25 – Sportoto) fell just short in fourth place (2:23.832).
Hwang, who first donned the taegeuk mark in 2016 as a high school sophomore, has become a fixture on the men’s team, winning two world titles in consecutive seasons in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. After taking a break after last year’s Beijing Winter Olympics, 먹튀검증 Hwang returned the flag for the 2022-2023 season, but this event marked his return to the World Cup Series and he immediately went after gold.
The day’s semifinals pitted Huang against Lin Xiaozhun, a former teammate of the national team, but Lin was accused of unsportsmanlike conduct against Huang during a training session at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village in 2019. Although he was acquitted by the Supreme Court, Lin was given a one-year suspension and has since naturalized in China. On the day, Hwang Dae-heon finished first in his group in the semifinals, while his teammate Lin Xiao-jun finished third and failed to qualify for the final.
Park Ji-won (27-Seoul City Hall) clocked 1:24.903 in the final of the men’s 1,000-meter race to win by 0.013 seconds over Canada’s Steven DuBois (26-1:24.916). Kim Gil-ri (19-Seongnam City Hall) won silver in the women’s 1500 meters and Lee So-yeon (30-Sportoto) took silver in the women’s 1000 meters first race.