We met after 5 years. As women’s short track ace Choi Min-jung and former national team coach Kim Seon-tae took over as coaches at Seongnam City Hall and ate together, many eyes are paying attention to how synergistic the two will create.
In particular, coach Kim’s role became more important as Choi Min-jung decided to take a year off from the national team to upgrade after a virtual defeat at the World Championships last March.
Seongnam City announced on the city website on the 1st that former head coach Kim Seon-tae would take over as a result of the recent ice team coach recruitment screening.
Coach Kim applied for the coach recruitment in January and even had an interview, but was eliminated due to controversy over his career as a coach for the Chinese national team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and his one-year suspension of qualifications right after the Pyeongchang Olympics four years ago. In addition to coach Kim, all six other applicants, including Viktor Ahn, were rejected.
Three months after that, Seongnam City held a re-competition, and coach Kim was attached.
Seongnam City Hall’s ice skating team can be called the best in Korea when it comes to short track speed skating. Minjung Choi, a Korean female ace who competed twice in the Olympics and won three gold medals; Gilly Kim (female), who was ranked first in the “Post Choi Minjung” category and recently placed first in the national team selection event; and silver medalist in the men’s 5000m relay at the Beijing Olympics. This is because Lee Joon-seo, In, and Kim Da-gyeom (above male), the 2020 Four Continents Championship men’s 500m bronze medalist, are involved.
Among them, Choi Min-jung has played the role of a female short track skater for the past 10 years and has played a leading role in maintaining Korea’s pride in the Winter Olympics, so Seongnam City Hall has high expectations for Choi Min-jung’s performance.
However, Choi Min-jeong is struggling with her recent competition with European players, and as a result, she is determined to transform for her win without regret at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. lean
Choi Min-jung participated in the World Championships held in Seoul last March, but was pushed back by the super strong performances of Dutch athletes such as Schisaner Swielting and Sandra Belzebourg, and won three silver medals in two individual events and 3000m relay. Her three silver medals are also a great result, but it is not an exaggeration to say that it was a bitterly complete defeat for Choi Min-jung, who has been the world’s best skater for many years. The Netherlands swept all four gold medals, including the women’s individual event and the relay race. 메이저사이트
Since then, Choi Min-jeong has declared that she will skip the 2023/24 national selection and change her skating skills and equipment. As much as she put down her Taegeuk mark, training in her team became important, and she met coach Kim.
In particular, the two of them worked together at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and achieved good results, so it’s not bad from Choi Min-jung’s point of view. At the time, Choi Min-jeong took her first Olympic win with her gold medal in the women’s 1500m, followed by her gold medal in the women’s 3000m relay, making her the only two-time gold medalist on the Korean team.
Afterwards, coach Kim left Korea to coach the Chinese national team and became enemies during the Beijing Olympics last year. At last year’s Beijing Olympics, coach Kim led the host country to win two gold medals and built up his pride.
In addition, as he knows the strengths and weaknesses of Dutch players such as Swilting and Belzebourg through the past two Olympics and various international competitions, it is expected that he will be able to give Choi Min-jung new wings through customized training.
An official from the ice skating world said, “It is believed that Choi Min-jung will be quite happy with the appointment of coach Kim,” and “Coach Kim’s role has become important ahead of the 2026 Olympics, which may be the last Olympics for Choi Min-jung.”