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Park Seung-hi, Olympic short track champ, switches to long track

Park Seung-hi

SOCHI, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 21: Park Seung Hi of South Korea celebrates victory in the Women’s 500m Speed Skating Final on day fourteen of the 2014 Winter Olympics at the Iceberg Skating Palace on February 21, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

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Park Seung-hi, the most decorated women’s short track speed skater at the Sochi Olympics, is switching to long track speed skating this season, according to Yonhap News in South Korea.

Park, 22, won 1000m gold, 500m bronze and 3000m relay gold in Sochi after taking two individual bronze medals at Vancouver 2010.

“I thought about retiring after the Sochi Olympics, but I wanted to give myself a chance to skate at the [2018] Pyeongchang Games,” Park said, according to the report. “I was never afraid of the switch because I am an optimistic person who likes to tackle challenges, and I’ve had a lot of help from people around me.”

Park has trained with Olympic 500m long track champion Lee Sang-hwa and often beating everybody except Lee in practice, according to the report.

The long track speed skating World Cup season begins in Japan on Nov. 14.

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