Short track Park Ji-won and Hwang Dae-heon in the first round of selection for the national team again

Park Ji-won failed to advance to the final with a time of 1:16.175 in the second group of men's 500m semi-finals of the first short track national competition in the 2024/25 season held at Mokdong Indoor Ice Rink on the 6th.

Park Ji-won, who was ranked second in the 1,500m final the previous day and had 21 ranking points, failed to advance to the 500m final and was ranked third overall.

On the third curved line of the first lap, there was an accident. Hwang Dae-heon was racing right behind Park Ji-won. Hwang Dae-heon dug into the in-course and tried to overtake Park Ji-won, when Park Ji-won was pushed back and hit the fence. Park Ji-won raced to the end but failed to narrow the distance that had already been widened.

The referee did not award a penalty for the scene. Hwang advanced to the final as a second-place finisher, and recorded fifth-place finisher to earn five ranking points.

The short track competition will feature three events, 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter races in both the first and second races. The top 24 players will advance to the second competition by combining the performances of the three events in the first competition, and the top eight and seven men and women in the second competition will carry the national flag, respectively. In the women's team, Kim Ki-li won the gold medal in the 1,500-meter race at the World Championships, and has been automatically selected as a member of the national team.

This is already the fourth clash in this season alone. The two skaters caused controversy over their team kill by colliding for two consecutive days in one competition. Park Won and Hwang Dae-heon clashed in the men's 1,500-meter final at the 2024 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Championships held at Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on March 17, and Park Ji-won finished the race in the bottom place. In the men's 1,000-meter final held the next day, the two skaters gave up the race as they were shocked when the two skaters collided and Park Ji-won collapsed.

They also clashed in the final of the men's 1,000-meter race at the first ISU Short Track World Cup event in October last year. Park failed to win a medal again.

If Park had won a gold medal at the World Championships, she could have been automatically selected as a member of the national team for the next season. However, Park failed to win a medal and has to pass the national team selection contest to wear the national flag again next season.

The Ice Federation officially announced that it had formed an investigation committee with short track experts and others to confirm that "there was no intention at all, and there was no intention of team kill."

Meanwhile, Shim Suk-hee ranked first with a time of 43.749. Lee So-yeon came in second and Choi Min-jeong came in third.

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