'Iron Man' Yun Sungbin devastated at Beijing 2022: "I made so many mistakes"
South Korea's 'Iron Man' can't find Olympic form on "The Flying Snow Dragon" at Beijing 2022
Skeleton
Yun Sungbin didn't even try to hide his disappointment after the first two skeleton heats at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
"I made so many mistakes, so much lost time," he told Olympics.com after heat 2 where he finished 12th, a slight improvement on 13th from the opening heat.
Yun dragged a toe and pinged off the wall on the unforgiving 'Flying Snow Dragon' track, finishing heats one and two well off the pace, and was clearly devastated afterwards.
It would take a miracle for him to retain his Olympic title or get even close to the medal positions as he put down a 1:01.26 time in heat 1 and totalled 2:02.43 after heat 2. He sits over two seconds behind leader Christopher Grotheer.
"I'm not really happy but I hope tomorrow will be good," the South Korean star said.
At PyeongChang 2018 four years ago South Korea's Yun Sungbin became a sliding celebrity after he won South Korea's first ever skeleton gold medal.
Suddenly skeleton was cool and even the 'Kings of K-Pop' EXO couldn't wait to meet him at the PyeongChang Games Closing Ceremony.
Fast forward four years and Yun struggled with the track at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre known as "The Flying Snow Dragon," which includes particularly perilous turns at curves 12 and 13.
His results haven't been world-beating this season and he said:
"Very difficult training season with the virus, COVID, so I couldn't train really much, and make this result maybe."
Skeleton final preview Beijing 2022
With the reigning champ down in 12th, two German flyers lead the way, Christopher Grotheer put down two lightning-fast runs of 1 minute even (A Track Record on this new track) and 1:00.33.
The three-time running world champ reached a top speed of 130.4km/h and leads his German compatriot Axel Jungk by 0.70s with China's Yan Wengang third +0.75 behind.
Two ROC sliders are still in contention with Alexander Tretiakov, fourth, Evgeniy Rukosuev fifth, and storied Latvian slider Martins Dukurs is sixth with his brother Tomass Dukurs eight.
At the last three Olympics, the men’s skeleton gold has gone to the host nation, with local athletes usually getting a little more time to get to know the track, but with two Germans leading the way that streak may be snapped in China.
But with two more heats to come tomorrow, there could be plenty of drama in store.
Skeleton standings Beijing 2022
Here are the top 15 skeleton standings after heats one and two (combined times):
- Christopher Grotheer (GER) 2:00.33
- Axel Jungk (GER) 2:01.03 +0.70
- Yan Wengang (CHN) 2:01.08 +0.75
- Alexander Tretiakov (ROC) 2:01.20 +0.87
- Evgeniy Rukosuev (ROC) 2:01.20 +0.87
- Martins Dukurs (LAT) 2:01.24 +0.91
- Yin Zheng (CHN) 2:01.45 +1.12
- Tomass Dukurs (LAT) 2:01.55 +1.22
- Alexander Gassner (GER) 2:01.73 +1.40
- Jung Seunggi (KOR) 2:02.22 +1.89
- Amedeo Bagnis (ITA) 2:02.24 +1.91
- Yun Sungbin (KOR) 2:02.43 +2.10
- Matt Weston (GBR) 2:02.49 +2.16
- Samuel Maier (AUT) 2:02.49 +2.16
- Mattia Gaspari (ITA) 2:02.51 +2.18
Skeleton Schedule Beijing 2022 Olympics: When and where to watch skeleton in Beijing?
With the first two heats completed on Thursday 10 February at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, we'll find out our Olympic medallists on Friday 11 February.
Beijing 2022 Skeleton Schedule
- Skeleton Heat 3: Friday 11 February 20:20 Local time
- Skeleton Heat 4 Friday 11 February 21:55