From Pyeongchang, KOR
(November 15, 2024) – Yerim Kim rallied to win her first gold medal in IBSF international competition.
Kim entered the second heat trailing the previous day’s gold medalist, Yangqi Zhu and Korean teammate Yeeun Chung. In the second run she put down the quick run of the race to take the lead from China’s Guanshuo Wang, and held that spot as Chung fell behind by .69.
That left Zhu, fresh off her first gold medal a day prior. Zhu put down a quick start time, but trouble late in her run dropped her not just behind Kim but completely off the podium.
That gave Kim her first ever gold medal. In the Youth Olympic Games in the previous season she’d finished 11th.
Chung took silver for her first international medal, while Wang finished third for her second bronze of the season.
Zhu took fourth, .18 ahead of Korea’s Minji Kim in fifth. Hannah Russwurm rounded out the six slider field.
At the halfway point of the eight race women’s skeleton Asian Cup season, Nicole Silveira and Kim Meylemans remain tied for the tour lead. The first two races saw fields of over 40 sliders, and with the second pair of races with only four and six sliders in their respective races. In turn, the top 12 in the Asian Cup standings are all World Cup athletes who will compete this weekend.
Yangqi Zhu is the top athlete who’s completed the full four races, and sits 13th overall. Guanshuo Wang is 21st and Yerim Kim 24th.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Finish |
| 1 | Yerim Kim | KOR | 4 | 5.53 | 5.51 | 55.12 | 54.25 | 1:49.37 |
| 2 | Yeeun Chung | KOR | 3 | 5.70 | 5.68 | 55.06 | 55.00 | 1:50.06 |
| 3 | Guanshuo Wang | CHN | 1 | 5.22 | 5.16 | 55.19 | 55.05 | 1:50.24 |
| 4 | Yanqi Zhu | CHN | 2 | 5.18 | 5.20 | 54.94 | 55.91 | 1:50.85 |
| 5 | Minji Kim | KOR | 6 | 5.64 | 5.62 | 55.72 | 55.31 | 1:51.03 |
| 6 | Hannah Russwurm | FIN | 5 | 5.51 | 5.51 | 55.68 | 56.40 | 1:52.08 |
| DNS | Eire Rowland-Evans | IRL | 7 | DNS |
