In just one week, Korea’s leading female speed skater Lee Sang-hwa has broken three world records, all her own. This raises high hopes for gold at the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

 

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Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa raises her arms after winning the women’s 500-meter in 36.36 seconds at the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 16. (Photo: Yonhap News)

 

Lee won the women’s 500-meter race on November 10 in 36.74 seconds on the second leg of the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, breaking her own record of 36.80 achieved this January. Then on November 16 she broke that newly-achieved record with a time of 36.57. Since two world record-breaking runs just weren’t enough, on November 17 she broke both of those newly-minted world records with a time of 36.36 seconds. Lee has so far shortened her time in the 500-meter race by 0.58 seconds since her time last year of 36.94, which was also a world record at that time.

So far, only four female speed skaters, including Lee, have broken a world record more than four times. These athletes include Catriona LeMay Doan of Canada, Bonnie Kathleen Blair of the United States and Christa Rothenburger Luding of Germany. Lee, however, is the only skater among them who broke the world record four times in less than ten days. 

 

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Lee Sang-hwa sprints to victory in the women’s 500-meter at the second leg of the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo: Yonhap News)

 

 

After putting on a world-class performance here, Lee will now participate in the third and fourth legs of the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup to be held in Kazakhstan and Germany, respectively, this December. She will then head to the Essent ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships in Nagano, Japan, in January 2014. This will keep her in good form for gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics, which will open on February 7, 2014. 

 

 

[Source: Korea.net]