Harbin: South Korean speed skater Cha Min-kyu will not compete in his main event at the Asian Winter Games in China due to skate issues. Cha, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the men's 500 meters, informed reporters on Wednesday that he has chosen to withdraw from the 500m race scheduled for next week.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Cha explained after a training session at the Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Speed Skating Oval that his skates were causing him problems. "They have almost reached their end. If I put too much pressure in them, the boots get moved around," he said. "I didn't want to push the envelope too much I decided instead to skip the short race."
Despite the setback, Cha plans to compete in the 1,000m and team sprint events, expressing his goal to secure a medal in both. "After this competition, I will try on different pairs to find the right one," he remarked. Cha views this as part of his preparation for the upcoming Olympics and emphasized the importance of patience in his training and races.
Cha, at 31, holds the distinction of being the only South Korean man to have won consecutive Olympic medals in the 500m. At the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, he narrowly missed the gold by 0.01 second to Norway's Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen. In the 2022 Beijing Games, Cha was the runner-up, finishing 0.07 second behind China's Gao Tingyu.