Para sprinter Gong Hyuk-jun (Anyang City Hall) broke the Korean record in the men’s deafblind (DB) 100 meters four days into the 17th National Para Athletics Championships.
Coached by Kang Tae-seok and Cho Kyu-won, Gong Hyeok-jun clocked 10.71 seconds in the men’s DB 100m final on the first day of the event, which doubled as the first national team trials, at Gumi Civic Stadium in Gyeongsangbuk-do, North Gyeongsang Province, to win with a new Korean record, beating Jung Seung-yoon (Seoul-11.27) and Shin So-mang (Chungcheongbuk-do-12.63).
After running 10.72 in the men’s general category preliminaries of the 77th National Athletics Championships, a Para athletics event, 메이저사이트 on March 23, breaking the 14-year-old Korean record (10.77) by 0.05 seconds, Gong Hyuk-jun showed that he is the best sprinter in the country by improving his time by 0.01 seconds just four days later.
The sprinter, who was a surprise runner-up in the men’s 200 meters at the Cascais do Sul Deaflympics at the Deaflympics in Brazil last May, has continued to perform well in both able-bodied and Paralympic competitions.
After his victory, Gong Hyuk-joon said, “I would like to thank Coach Kang Tae-seok, Coach Cho Kyu-won, my colleagues at Anyang City Hall, and everyone around me for always supporting and believing in me. I challenged the Korean record for four years, and now that I’ve broken it for four consecutive days, I feel like all the stress has been relieved. I will continue to train hard and strive to become a recognized athlete not only for Para athletes but also for able-bodied athletes.”
Meanwhile, Lee Sang-ik (Paju-si, South Korea) won the men’s high and general combined T36 100m in 14.18 seconds ahead of Kim Kwang-min (Ulsan, South Korea – 20.69 seconds) and then won the 400m final in 1:07.02, more than six seconds ahead of Kim Myung-joon (Jeonnam, South Korea – 1:13.73) to win a double gold medal.
In addition, Yoon Kyung-chan (Gyeonggi-do Para Athletics Federation – 15:93) in the men’s general T53 100m and Lee Bong-joon (Uijeongbu-si – 1:10.35) in the T52 400m, Jung Min-jung (Gwangju-si – 1:35.61) in the women’s high school T20 and Park Siwoo (Uijeongbu High School – 12:17) in the men’s general T20 all finished as runners-up.
Article provided by Gyeonggi Daily