South Korea's Jung Seunggi starts for a men's skeleton run at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday. AP-Yonhap
Jung Seung-gi is tied for eighth after the first two of four runs in the men's skeleton competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.
Jung had the combined time of 1:53.22 after his two runs at Cortina Sliding Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, some 260 kilometers northeast of Milan.
Jung posted the ninth-fastest time in the first run with 56.57 seconds and clocked 56.65 seconds for the 10th-best mark in the second run.
In the overall rankings, Jung is tied with two Chinese sliders, Yin Zheng and Lin Qinwei.
Jung overcame a career-threatening back injury to arrive in Italy as a potential medal contender. He picked up a bronze medal and recorded three other top-five finishes at six World Cup events this season.
Jung will try to become just the second South Korean to win an Olympic medal in skeleton, joining the 2018 men's champion, Yun Sung-bin.
The one other South Korean in action on Thursday, Kim Ji-soo, ranked 15th with 1:54.15. He clocked 57.15 seconds in the first run and 57.00 seconds in the next run.
Matt Weston of Britain led the field with a track record of 1:52.09. Weston, who topped the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup standings this season by winning five of seven competitions, set a track record in his first run with 56.21 seconds and improved on that with 55.88 seconds in the next run.
Christopher Grotheer, the 2022 gold medalist from Germany, is in third place at 1:52.55. His countryman Axel Jungk, who won silver in 2022, ranked second with 1:52.39.
Source: Korea Times News
