Snowboarding prodigy Lee Chae-un, post-Kim Yuna figure skaters Kim Chae-yeon, Kim seo-young, Cha Jun-hwan among stars to watch
The South Korean national team has already surpassed its initial goal of winning at least 11 gold medals, but is looking to add more prizes to the cabinet to cement second place overall at the Asian Winter Games in Harbin.
Lee Chae-un, having notched his first career Asiad win with a gold in the men's snowboard slopestyle event, seeks a second crown in the finals of the halfpipe event on Thursday at 12:20 p.m., Korean time. The halfpipe is considered the 19-year-old's primary event, and would mark the country's 13th gold medal at this year's Asian Games if he prevails.
Figure skating
Figure skaters Kim Chae-yeon and Kim seo-young will compete in the medal-deciding women's singles free skating program slated for 2 p.m. on Thursday. Kim Chae-yeon won bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships and silver at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in the last year, and is now looking to bring home the country's second gold medal in the event.
Choi Da-bin in 2017 became the country's first gold medalist in the women's figure skating event. Kim Yuna, widely considered the greatest Korean figure skater of all time, never competed at the Asian Games, both due to injuries and to take a break after winning gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Cha Jun-hwan, who will compete in the men's free skating program scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, is also seeking to make history by winning Korea's first Asiad medal in men's figure skating. He scored a personal season-best 94.09 points in the short program of the event on Tuesday, trailing Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who sat on 103.81.
Cha said Tuesday he will not adjust the difficulty of his program for Thursday, saying he will instead focus on his performance rather than trying to overdo it. If he beats the odds to take the gold, he would also win an exemption from the military conscription required of all able-bodied South Korean men.
Cha will be joined by Kim Hyu-gyeom, who marked 58.22 points in the short program to take the 10th spot.
Hockey
The Korean women's hockey team faces off against China, Japan and Kazakhstan in the final round-robin structure to decide the medals. Korea fell to host nation China 1-2 on Wednesday. The team next plays Japan on Thursday and Kazakhstan on Friday. The South Korean women recorded their only loss of these Games in a previous group stage against Kazakhstan, 1-0.
The country has yet to win an Asiad medal in women's hockey.
The men's hockey team, whose best record in the Asian Games is a silver medal in 2017, landed in the semifinals with a 20-0 blowout win against Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday. The Koreans will play Japan in a semifinals match at 3 p.m. on Thursday. If the team advances they take on the winner of the Kazakhstan-China match in the gold medal game slated for Friday afternoon, else they will play the consolation bronze match in the morning.
Curling and biathlon
The men's curling team cruised to a 4-0 record to reach the semifinals set for 8 p.m. Thursday. The women's team, which won all the first six matches to clinch a playoff berth on Wednesday, will play the last of its round-robin matches at 10 a.m. Thursday, before moving onto semifinals slated for 8 p.m.
The women's biathlon team will compete in the 4x6-kilometer relay event slated for 11 a.m., including the country's first-ever biathlon gold medalist, Russia-born Ekaterina Avvakumova. Avvakumova, who won the women's 7.5-kilometer run on Tuesday, will be joined by teammates Ko Eun-jeong, Jung Ju-mi and Choi Yoon-ah.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
