Taiwanese speedskater Kuo Li- yang (郭立陽) on Saturday won a gold medal in the men’s 200m dual time track final at this year’s Speed Skating World Championships held in Beidaihe, China.
With a time of 17.599 seconds, the 22-year-old skater’s win marked Taiwan’s first-ever gold medal in the tournament.
“It feels great, because the 200m race is highly determined by on-the-spot performance, with any tiny error making all the difference,” he said.
Photo: Screen grab from former Sports Administration Director-General Tai Hsia-ling’s Facebook page
Kuo started skating in preschool and began competing at the national level in elementary school.
Having finally achieved “world champion” status, he thanked his family for their support and the coach who introduced him to the sport for helping him train.
Liu Yu-shen (劉昱伸), a coach accompanying the Taiwanese team, said he had anticipated that Kuo would make it onto the podium.
Kuo gave his “120 percent effort,” handling the curves well and extending his front skate at the finish line, showing his determination to win a gold medal, he said.
The silver and bronze medals in the event went to Jhoan Guzman of Spain and Vincenzo Maiorca from Italy respectively.
Last month, Kuo won a silver medal in the same event at the World Games in Chengdu, China.
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