BEIJING-- It was a day of highs on the ice and lows on the track for South Korea at Beijing 2022, as the country's mini medal-winning streak came to an end after two days.
South Korea had picked up its first medal Tuesday, followed by its first gold medal Wednesday. The country didn't add to that total Thursday, but figure skater Cha Jun-hwan made a small piece of South Korean Olympic history.
Cha finished fifth in the men's singles competition at Capital Indoor Stadium with 282.38 points, a new personal best. This was the best Olympic performance by a South Korean male figure skater. Cha outdid himself, after finishing 15th in his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018.
Cha's short program score (99.51) and his free skate score (182.87) were also new career highs for the 20-year-old.
At Yanqing National Sliding Centre in Yanqing, northwestern Beijing, the reigning men's skeleton champion Yun Sung-bin found himself in 12th place at the halfway point.
Yun had a combined time of 2:02.43 after two runs. He is 2.10 seconds behind the leader, Christopher Grotheer of Germany.
The one other South Korean in action, Jung Seung-gi, sits in 10th place at 2:02.22.
Yun and Jung will have their third and fourth runs Friday.
Elsewhere on Thursday, South Koreans finished well back of the pack in the women's 10km classic race in cross-country skiing. Lee Eui-jin ranked 72nd out of 98 in 34:07.9, and Lee Chae-won finished 75th.
Source: Yonhap News Agency