The national bobsleigh team will participate in all bobsleigh events in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, for the first time in the history of Korean bobsledding.

The two four-man Korean teams -- Team A led by Won Yun-jong and Team B led by Kim Dong-hyun -- qualified for the Sochi Games by ranking fourth and seventh, respectively, on January 13 in the eighth round of the America Cup in Lake Placid, NY, the final event of the season. Korea now ranks eighth in the world thanks to the combined scores of the two teams.

During the race, Team A ran the course in a time of 56.57 seconds, slightly slower than U.S. team’s 56.52 seconds. Team B did it in 57.07 seconds, followed by Brazil at 57.07, Croatia with 57.09 and the United States with 57.64 seconds. After all America Cup events, Won Yoon-jong was selected as the best pilot for his winning performances in the four-man and two-man races.




Earlier, on January 10, Won also won Korea’s first-ever gold medal along with brake man Seo Young-woo during the two-man race with a time of 1 minute and 51.71 seconds.

Overall, two two-man teams and two four-man teams won tickets to the Sochi Games, scheduled to take place next month, as well as one two-woman team. It has been four years since the Korean four-men team first participated in the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010.

According to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, the top three countries in the world get three berths in the upcoming Olympics Games in Sochi. Those ranked fourth to ninth can get two berths at the games.

Korea has so far won tickets to Sochi in all sled events: luge, skeleton and bobsleigh.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr