S. Korean athletes continue to struggle at world championships

By Yoo Jee-ho
DAEGU, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- An already sluggish World Championships in Athletics for South Korea took a turn for the worse on Monday, as homegrown athletes finished at or near the bottom of their disciplines.
In the morning session of Day 3 of the competition, Lee Seung-yun was dead last among 34 runners in the men's 400-meter hurdles. He came in at 52.98 seconds
In the women's 400節? hurdles, Son Mi-kyeong ranked 36th in the field of 38 with the time of 1:00.21.
No South Korean athlete is entered in any of the day's later events: men's 110節? hurdles, men's hammer throw, men's pole vault, women's shot put and women's 100節?.



South Korea is trying to avoid becoming only the third host nation to fail to win a medal at the world championships. It has never won a world championships medal before, and the stated goal is to place 10 athletes inside the top 10 in 10 events. So far, race walker Kim Hyun-sub is the only local athlete to rank among top 10, finishing sixth in the men's 20??? race walk Sunday.
After two and a half days of the nine-day competition, Kenya and the U.S. are tied at the top with two gold medals apiece, followed by Russia, Ethiopia, Jamaica and China, with one gold each.
jeeho@yna.co.kr