A 28-year-old late-comer short track ace Park Ji-won “Failure is okay if you don’t have any regrets”

Park Ji-won of the short track team. 

Park Ji-won (28, Seoul City Hall), who had not received much attention despite her good skills due to not being associated with a 'big competition', has finally begun to spread her wings. The 'ace' position of the men's national team, which could have been a long 'gap', now belongs to Park Ji-won, no matter what anyone says.

However, Park Ji-won is not greatly disturbed by his current path to success. Just like the times when he did not see the light of day, he is determined to walk his own path in silence. He pledged not to lose his belief that “it is okay to fail as long as you prepare without regrets.”

Park Ji-won won the men's overall championship in the 2023-24 International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup series, which concluded last month. Park Ji-won, who became the first winner of the 'Crystal Globe' last season, roared with victory for two consecutive seasons.

In particular, the meaning of winning this season is special. In the case of last season, the season resumed after the coronavirus pandemic and the atmosphere was turbulent, with key players not participating. It was a season in which Hwang Dae-heon (25, Gangwon Provincial Office), who played for the Korean national team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, took a break due to injury.

However, Park Ji-won’s performance continued for the second season. Most of the world's best players participated, and internal competition with Hwang Dae-heon was inevitable, but Park Ji-won maintained the top spot. Now he is the undisputed ‘strongest’ in name and reality, with whom no one can disagree.

Park Ji-won, whom we recently met at the Korean Sports Council Sports Awards ceremony, said, “I had a goal of winning two years in a row, and I feel good that I was able to achieve that.” “I am grateful to myself, and I am also grateful to the people who supported me. “I think this will help him reach his next goal.”

Until the third competition this season, it was not an overwhelming performance. He got off to a good start by winning the 1000m in the first event, but was unable to add another gold medal after that. There were unfortunate incidents, such as getting tangled up with his national team teammates Hwang Dae-heon and Kim Geon-woo (Sports Toto) and falling during the game.

However, Park Ji-won showed strength starting from the 4th competition held at home. Immediately after the competition, he raised his ranking by winning the 1,500m gold medal and said, “In terms of soccer, it is now about 15 minutes into the second half. He expressed his will to win the World Cup, saying, “It’s time to turn things around.”

Afterwards, he added three gold medals in the 5th and 6th races, and eventually narrowly beat Steve Dubois (Canada), confirming his win for the second consecutive season.

Short track speed track Ji-won Park poses after receiving the Excellence Award at the Korea Sports Council Sports Awards held on February 29.

Park Ji-won explained, “The 4th World Cup held in Korea was a big turning point. Winning the gold medal on our home ground changed the atmosphere, and it continued into the 5th and 6th competitions.”

He said he was not concerned about the internal competition with Hwang Dae-heon and Kim Geon-woo. Rather, he said it was a positive factor.

He said, “For sports players, competition is a very good factor in improving performance,” and “Competing in games and in pre-game training was a great help. “By doing so, we were able to achieve better records and results.” 한국야동