S. Korea finishes Winter Asiad speed skating with 12 medals

South Korea collected four more medals in speed skating at the Asian Winter Games in China on Tuesday to finish the competition with 12 medals overall.

The 19-year-old rising star Lee Na-hyun led South Korea with four medals, as she capped her memorable Asian Games debut with the bronze medal in the women’s 1,000 meters at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Speed Skating Oval. Lee clocked 1:16.39 to finish 0.54 second back of the gold medalist from China, Han Mei. Another Chinese skater, Yin Qi, took the silver medal in 1:16.08.

Lee captured a stunning gold medal in the women’s 100m on Saturday. Then on Sunday, she skated to silver in the 500m, behind teammate Kim Min-sun.

On Monday, those two joined Kim Min-ji for the gold medal in the women’s team sprint event. With Tuesday’s bronze, Lee reached the podium in every race she entered in Harbin.

Earlier Tuesday, Cha Min-kyu claimed silver in the men’s 1,000m, finishing with a time of 1:09.63. Ning Zhongyan of China won the gold in 1:08.81, both the new Asian continental record and the Asian Games record. Lian Ziwen of China, who skated alongside Cha, took home the bronze in 1:09.68.

Cha had earlier won the team sprint silver medal on Monday.

The speed skating competition wrapped up with the men’s and women’s team pursuit races Tuesday, and South Korea reached the podium in both.

In the men’s team pursuit, Lee Seung-hoon, Chung Jae-won and Park Sang-eon claimed silver with a time of 3:47.99. China earned gold in 3:45.94, and Japan took bronze in 3:52.93.

It was Lee’s ninth career Winter Asiad medal, a record by a South Korean athlete. He had won seven gold medals and one silver medal over the past two editions in 2011 and 2017.

South Korea secured bronze in the women’s team pursuit, with Park Ji-woo, Jeong Yu-na and Kim Yoon-ji finishing in 3:10.47.

South Korea barely broke a sweat in taking bronze in the four-team competition. South Korea skated against Kazakhstan in the first pairing but Kazakhstan was overtaken by South Korea — thus ending its race early — after one of its skaters fell at the start.