Olympic short track champion to receive top nat'l sports award

2018 Jakarta & Palembang 18:00 January 31, 2019

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- Olympic short track speed skating champion Lim Hyo-jun has been named the top South Korean athlete of 2018, officials said Thursday.

At its board of directors meeting, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) selected Lim, who grabbed a gold and a bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, as the winner of the grand prize at the 65th KSOC Awards. The annual ceremony is scheduled to be held Feb. 27.

In this file photo from Feb. 10, 2018, Lim Hyo-jun of South Korea celebrates his gold medal in the men's 1,500-meter short track speed skating event at the 2018 Winter Olympics at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, 230 kilometers east of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Lim won his first career Olympic gold in the men's 1,500 meters last February and later added a bronze in the 500m. The 22-year-old was the only South Korean male short tracker to reach the top of the podium at PyeongChang 2018.

Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho was named the top male athlete of 2018, while cyclist Na Ah-reum was picked as the best female athlete from last year.

Lee earned silver in the men's parallel giant slalom at PyeongChang 2018, becoming the first South Korean, male or female, to win an Olympic medal in a skiing discipline.

Na also made history at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games last August. She became the first South Korean cyclist to sweep up four gold medals at an Asian Games. Na won the road race and the individual time trial gold medals on the road and then captured two more titles in the madison and team pursuit on the track. She is the first cyclist to win both the road race and time trial gold medals at the same Asian Games.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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