Two-time Olympic short track champ returns to familiar surface
SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- Two-time Olympic short track speed skating champion Lee Jung-su has decided to return to the sport, after a brief sojourn in long track.
According to the Korea Skating Union (KSU) on Tuesday, Lee will enter the national team trials for the 2018-2019 season, which begin Wednesday at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul.
Lee, 28, captured two short track gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics but turned to speed skating before the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. After struggling in the new sport, Lee went back to short track and enjoyed a career renaissance during the 2016-2017 International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup season.
But after finishing eighth in the Olympic trials in early 2017, where the top four earned berths for PyeongChang 2018, Lee decided to give speed skating another try.
Lee didn't qualify in the long track national team trials as well. He worked as a television analyst for short track during the PyeongChang Olympics.
Lee actually started out as a speed skater as a fourth grader but moved to short track in sixth grade.
In this file photo from Dec. 17, 2016, Lee Jung-su of South Korea celebrates his victory in the men's 1,500 meters final at the International Skating Union World Cup Short Track Speed Skating at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, 230 kilometers east of Seoul. (Yonhap)
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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