'105th Winter Games wrap up' Gangwon Province wins overall title

The 105th National Winter Sports Festival, the largest winter sports festival in Korea, wrapped up on Thursday.

The Games were held from the 22nd to the 25th in Gangwon Province, Seoul, and Gyeongbuk Province with a total of 4,278 athletes, including 2,740 athletes and 1,538 officials, from 17 provinces and cities. Organized by the Korea Sports Federation (President Lee Ki-heung) and hosted by eight winter member sports organizations, the Games were held for the first time in four years, especially the opening ceremony, which was not held due to COVID-19.

Gyeonggi Province won the overall title with 287 medals and a total of 1461 points. Seoul was second overall with 1074 points and Gangwon was third overall with 841 points.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Games was South Korean women's skiing sensation Kim So-hee (28, Haiwon). Kim won four titles in the ski alpine giant slalom, combined, giant slalom, and super giant slalom, and was honored with 61 percent of the votes (based on the number of eligible ballots) in a vote by the KFA press corps.

"I am very honored to be named MVP of the Winter Games," said Kim. "I would like to thank everyone at the Hi-One Ski Team and my coach, Jung Hye-mi, for their support and dedication to my training to get me to where I am today." "This award will inspire me to do my best to strive for even greater challenges," he said.

In addition, short tracker Choi Min-jung (26-Seongnam City Hall) won three titles in the women's general category, including the 500-meter, 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter relay. Kim Lia (25-Korea Gymnastics University) also won 먹튀검증 three titles in the women's collegiate 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 3,000-meter relay.

Women's speed skater Kim Min-sun, 25, won three gold medals in the women's general category: 500 meters, 1000 meters, and team pursuit (6 laps). Men's long-distance skater Jung Jae-won (23, Seoul City Hall) also won three gold medals in the mass start, 10,000 meters, and team pursuit (8 weeks).

Dream athletes also showed promise. Ski cross-country Park Jae-yeon (12, Daegwallyeongcho), Lee Seo-won (16, Jinbujung) and Cho Da-eun (15, Hwasunjeong) won four titles in the classic, combined, free and relay. Biathlete Yoo Hyun-min (16-Ildongjung) also won four medals in the sprint, mass start, relay, and mixed relay.

There were 106 multi-medalists at the Games, including three five-medal winners, 10 four-medal winners, 20 three-medal winners and 73 two-medal winners. A total of 17 event records were set, including six in speed skating and 11 in short track.

The Winter Games will be held in Gangwon Province for the 109th time from this year, taking into account the specificity of the sports and the competition environment. The Winter Games overall awards ceremony will be held in parallel with the 70th Korea Sports Council Sports Awards Ceremony at Olympia Hall on the first floor of the Seoul Olympic Parktel at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 29th.