[Olympics] Kim Bo-reum 5th Place in Women's Speed Skating Mass Start

Struggling to Spur Ahead After Joining Mid-Rank Group at Fifteenth Lap

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Speed skater Kim Bo-reum (Gangwon Province Office) finished 5th in the women's mass start. On the 19th, Kim Bo-reum earned 6 sprint points (8 minutes 16.81 seconds) in the women's mass start final at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating event held at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, China. She crossed the finish line ahead of Val?rie Maltais (Canada, 8 minutes 20.46 seconds), who also scored 6 points, securing 5th place.

Kim Bo-reum conserved her energy in the lower ranks until the twelfth lap, waiting for an opportunity. At the thirteenth lap, she moved up to 4th place, and her strategy seemed to work. However, at the fifteenth lap, she struggled to increase her speed while caught between the mid-pack group of skaters. Although she fell out of medal contention, Kim did not give up. She completed the final lap in 26.10 seconds and crossed the finish line in fifth place.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The mass start is an event where multiple skaters compete over sixteen laps. Sprint points are awarded to the skaters who pass first to third place at the 4th, 8th, and 12th laps, with 3, 2, and 1 points respectively. At the finish line, 60 points are awarded to 1st place, 40 points to 2nd, 20 points to 3rd, 10 points to 4th, 6 points to 5th, and 3 points to 6th.

The gold medal went to Irene Schouten (Netherlands, 8 minutes 14.73 seconds), who earned 60 sprint points. The silver medal was awarded to Ivanie Blondin (Canada, 40 points, 8 minutes 14.79 seconds), and the bronze medal went to Francesca Lollobrigida (Italy, 20 points, 8 minutes 14.98 seconds).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.