Park Ji-won (27, Seoul City Hall, photo ) of the Korean short track men’s national team has overcome a long period of obscurity and has risen to the top.

Park Ji-won won the men’s 1000m second race and the men’s 5000m relay at the 6th competition of the 2022-2023 International Skating Union 바카라(ISU) Short Track World Cup held in Dordrecht, the Netherlands on the 13th (Korean time). He won three gold medals in the event, including the gold medal in the 1500m the day before. In the 1st to 6th competitions, only 14 gold medals were awarded to Park Ji-won.

With this, Park Ji-won ranked first in the individual overall with a total ranking of 1068 points in the 1st to 6th World Cup competitions in the 2022-2023 season. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the World Cup this season, the ISU selected first place in the men’s and women’s overall rankings based on the results of the 1st to 6th competitions and presented them with a special trophy, the Crystal Globe, and Park Ji-won became the first recipient.

It is the top spot that has been reached after enduring a long period of endurance. Park Ji-won wore the Taegeuk mark in the 2015-2016 season, but did not receive attention compared to Lin Xiaojun (Korean name Lim Hyo-jun) and Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office). He also experienced the pain of being eliminated from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics national team selection rounds.

In an interview with ISU, Park Ji-won said, “I wanted to become a part of short track speed skating history by becoming the first winner of the Crystal Globe,” and “I’m proud of myself for doing that.”