Seung-Hoon Lee of South Korea races during the men’s mass start semifinals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held at the National Speed Skating Stadium (Oval) in Beijing, China on the 19th. yunhap news
‘Defending Champion’ Seung-Hoon Lee (IHQ) and Jae-Won Jeong (Uijeongbu City Hall), a promising player, easily advanced to the men’s mass start finals.
In the men’s mass start semifinals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held at the National Speed Skating Stadium in Beijing, China on the 19th, Seung-Hoon Lee and Jae-Won Jeong advanced to the final as they placed in the top eight.
Seung-Hoon Lee advanced to the final in 2nd place with a record of 7:43.63 in Group 2 of the semi-finals, accumulating 40 sprint points.
Seung-Hoon Lee stayed at the bottom of the 4th and 8th laps giving sprint points, and accumulated power, and climbed to 3rd place at once following 10 laps. He climbed to first place on the last lap but crossed the finish line in second place and took 40 points.
Seunghoon Lee was the first champion to win a gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, where the mass start was first introduced.
Jeong Jae-won, who served as Lee Seung-hoon’s assistant in Pyeongchang, also settled in fourth place with a record of 7:45.76 and 12 sprint points in Group 1 of the semifinals.
Jaewon Jeong passed the 4th lap for the 3rd time and earned 1 point, and added 1 point once more on the 12th lap. He crossed the finish line in 4th place, scoring 10 points and taking the final 12 points.
The mass start is an event first introduced at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, and athletes start at the same time without a lane, run a total of 16 laps (6400m), and determine the ranking by adding up sprint points.
Sprint points 3, 2, and 1 are awarded to the athletes who pass 1st to 3rd in every 4 laps, including 4 laps, 8 laps, and 12 laps, respectively. At the finish line (16 laps), 1st place 60 points, 2nd place 40 points, 20 points for 3rd place, 10 points for 4th place, 6 points for 5th place, 3 points for 6th place.
Placement is important in the last lap, as the highest points are awarded to the top three finishers who cross the finish line.
Jeong Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon will challenge for medals in the final to be held at 5:30 pm (Korean time) on the same day.