Speed skating world record holder Lee Sang-hwa on Tuesday won her final 500-meter race at home before the upcoming Winter Games in Russia, putting her preparation for the Olympic title defense on the right track.

Lee won the women’s 500m in 38.11 seconds at the national speed skating event hosted by the Korea Skating Union in Seoul. It was well short of her world record time of 36.36 seconds, but Lee said afterward she is in good form heading into the Sochi Winter Olympics next month.

“I am satisfied with how my preparation is going,” she said. “I will get ready for the Olympics with confidence, like it was just another race.”

This was Lee’s final race before Sochi, and it was also her first competition since her most recent International Skating Union World Cup in early December.

After coming down with a cold in November, she skipped the second 500m race of her last World Cup in early December and sat out the national sprint championships later that month.

Lee said Tuesday she’d run out of gas after entering consecutive World Cups but that she wanted to compete one last time on home ice.

“I lost some speed over my last stretch,” she offered. “I wasn’t too happy with my first 100m, but I think I did OK the rest of the way.” Lee owns the world record time of 36.36 seconds in the 500m.

She set her first world record in January last year and broke her own mark three times in November.

The 24-year-old is the heavy favorite to win her second straight gold in Sochi, and join Bonnie Blair of the United States and Catriona Le May Doan as the only women to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the women’s 500m.

Lee, however, said she will not let her guard down until the end of the Olympics.

“You never know what can happen at the Olympics,” she said.

“There are many good skaters from Germany, China and the Netherlands, and I am worried about all of them.”

Lee stressed the importance of a quick start in the 500m event, especially the first 100m. She said controlling her emotions will also be a key factor.

“I am just trying to think positive thoughts no matter what happens,” she said. “I have to keep thinking that I will do a successful race.” (Yonhap News)