Short track skater Lim Jong-eon of Goyang City Hall, who made his Olympic debut a day earlier, said he gained confidence after getting a feel for the competition.
Lim took part in the national team’s official training session on Feb. 11 at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy.
In his first Olympics, Lim advanced smoothly from the 1,000-meter preliminaries a day earlier to reach the quarterfinals. Reflecting on that race, he said, “It’s been a while since I competed, and I was very nervous, so I’m a bit tired,” adding, “I went in thinking I’d skate like at other international events, but the atmosphere here is definitely different, so I was really shaking.”
On his approach, Lim said, “Since it was my first race, I tried to use a new strategy,” and added, “I tried to stay active near the front.”
“As I raced, I got a sense of what I need to do and how much I should do,” he said.
Lim’s quarterfinal heat will include Lin Xiaojun — known in South Korea as Lim Hyo-jun — along with Italy’s Shupekenhouser, the Netherlands’ Jens Vansbaut and Latvia’s Reinis Berzins.
Lim said he has been looking forward to racing Lin. “We often run into each other at the athletes’ village cafeteria and say hello,” he said. “When we ended up in the same group, Lin told me, ‘Don’t be nervous, and let’s do well.’”
Still, Lim said he is not focused on any one rival. “Lin is there, but there are also a lot of strong skaters from the Netherlands and Italy,” he said. “Rather than one specific skater, I think I need to manage the race while keeping several skaters in mind.”
Lim also pointed to the ice conditions. “It felt a bit softer than during practice, so there have been a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I think I’ll need to skate differently in the race.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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