S. Korea finishes 6th in 2-man bobsleigh

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean tandem Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo finished sixth in the two-man bobsleigh competition at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Monday. Won, the pilot, and Seo, his brakeman, posted a combined time of 3 minutes, 17.40 seconds after their four heats at Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, to finish sixth among 30 teams. The two-man bobsleigh event consists of four heats on two consecutive days, with two heats per day. The team with the fastest aggregate time gets the gold medal. Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada, current No. 1 in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) world rankings, and the German team of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis tied for first place, with both teams clocking a time of 3:16:86. Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga of Latvia won bronze at 3:16:91. Won and Seo, who topped the 2015-16 season IBSF world rankings, were ninth after their first two runs on Sunday. They finished the opening heat, which they started last in order, in 11th place with 49.50, but improved two spots after the second heat with 49.39. In the third heat, the pair marked 49.15 and improved to sixth place, but failed to progress further from that position after clocking 49.36 in the final heat. PyeongChang 2018 was their second Winter Olympics. Won and Seo finished 18th at Sochi 2014. The two South Koreans were looking to become the first Asian bobsledders to claim a medal in an Olympic bobsleigh competition. They were also chasing South Korea's second Winter Games medal from sledding sports, following skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin's historic gold on Friday. Won and Seo will continue their Olympic campaign by competing in the four-man bobsleigh competition, with Jun Jung-lin and Kim Dong-hyun, this weekend. kdon@yna.co.kr (END)