SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - South Korea's Lee Na-hyun placed 10th in the women's 500-meter speed skating on Sunday, marking her second top-10 finish at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, while the country's skeleton mixed team finished 11th in the inaugural Olympic event.
Lee clocked 37.86 seconds at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, finishing 0.59 seconds behind bronze medalist Miho Takagi of Japan. The 20-year-old had earlier placed ninth in the women's 1,000 meters, making her the first South Korean to crack the top 10 in that event.
Starting from the inside lane in the 13th pairing, Lee passed the first 100 meters in 10.47 seconds, the eighth-fastest opening split. She navigated the first curve smoothly and powered through the straightaway but lost some speed on the final curve, unable to overcome centrifugal force.
Kim Min-sun, competing in her third Olympics, finished 14th with a time of 38.01 seconds. The 30-year-old struggled from the start, passing the 100-meter mark in 10.61 seconds, and was unable to close the gap despite her trademark finishing speed.
Netherlands' Femke Kok claimed gold with an Olympic record of 36.49 seconds, 0.66 seconds ahead of compatriot Jutta Leerdam, who took silver. Takagi earned bronze with 37.27 seconds.
In skeleton, Jeong Seung-gi and Hong Su-jung combined for 2 minutes, 1.45 seconds to finish 11th out of 15 teams in the mixed team event at Cortina Sliding Centre. The format, making its Olympic debut at Milan-Cortina, features one woman and one man from each team completing runs with their times combined.
Hong, competing in her first Olympics, recorded 1:01.84 despite posting the fastest reaction time of 0.13 seconds. She struggled with control early in her run, reaching a top speed of 120.48 kilometers per hour before finishing 13th among women.
Jeong, who also placed 10th in the men's individual event earlier in the Games, posted 59.61 seconds for 11th place in the men's portion. The 27-year-old showed strong technical skills with a reaction time of 0.19 seconds, sixth-best overall.
Britain's Matt Weston and Tabitha Stoecker won the inaugural mixed team gold with a track record of 1:59.36. German teams swept silver and bronze, with Axel Jungk and Susanne Kreher taking silver in 1:59.53, and Christopher Grotheer and Jacqueline Pfeifer claiming bronze in 1:59.54.
In women's curling, South Korea defeated Japan 7-5 in their fifth round-robin match at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. Skip Kim Eun-ji's team improved to 3-2 after earlier losses to the United States and Denmark.
Trailing 3-3 entering the eighth end, South Korea scored three points for a big end. The team then held a one-point lead heading into the 10th end with the hammer, adding one more to secure victory.
South Korea currently sits tied for fourth place with Denmark in the 10-team round robin. The top four teams advance to the semifinals, with the medal rounds scheduled for Feb. 20-22.
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