‘Short-distance hopefuls’ Lee Jung-tae (Anyang City Hall) and Kim Cho-eun (Gimpo City Hall) accompanied each other to the top of the men’s 200m and women’s 400m hurdles at the Yecheon KTFL National Games 2023.

Lee Jung-tae, who is coached by “Star Maker” Kang Tae-seok, took the lead shortly after the start in the men’s 200m final on day two of the competition at Yecheon Stadium in North Gyeongsangbuk-do on Thursday, clocking 21.23 seconds to hold off a late charge from teammates Moon Hae-jin (21.24) and Shin Min-kyu (Armed Forces Athletic Corps-21.26) to claim his first podium of the season.

Lee’s victory erased the disappointment of a third-place finish in the 100 meters the previous day and marked his first top finish in the event in about 10 months, since winning the National Unemployed Athletics Championships in Goseong last July.

“I was worried that (Lee) hadn’t been able to train for distance running, but I’m proud of him for winning the race despite being chased by competitors at the end,” said Anyang City Hall head coach Kang Tae-seok. “I will coach him to improve his speed and distance running training so that he can surpass his personal best of 20.79 seconds.”

Kim Choe-eun draws a heart with her 스포츠토토 gold medal after winning her second title of the season in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Courtesy of Gimpo City Hall

In the women’s 400-meter hurdles final, Kim, who is also coached by Osera, finished first in 1:00.62, ahead of Kim Ji-eun (1:00.70) and Noh Ji-hyun (1:01.76, Jeonbuk Development Corporation), to claim her second victory of the season after the KTFL National Unemployment Athletics Championships in Iksan in March.

Kim, who missed almost the entire season due to an ankle injury sustained in May last year, trailed Kim until the 10th hurdle of the day, when she unleashed an explosive spurt to win in dramatic fashion with three meters to go to claim her second title of the season.

Meanwhile, in the women’s 200m final, second-year unemployed Kim So-eun (Gapyeong County Office) clocked 24.59 to win her first gold medal in the event ahead of Shin Hyun-jin (Pohang City Hall – 24.99) and team junior Jeon Ha-young (25.11).

In the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Son Yuna (Bucheon City Hall) and Ko Hee-joo (Gyeonggi-do) won silver and bronze medals in 10:37.37 and 10:46.20, respectively, ahead of Cho Ha-rim (Jinju City Hall – 10:32.93), while Go Go-ji (Hwaseong City Hall) and Jeong Ye-rim (Gwacheon City Hall) were runners-up in the women’s pole vault at 3m20 and 52m58, respectively.

Ji Hyun-soo (Hwaseong City Hall) in the men’s decathlon and Shin Ji-ae (Siheung City Hall) in the women’s heptathlon tied for second place with 6,471 and 4,372 points, respectively, while Park Geun-jung (Gwacheon City Hall) won the silver medal in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 11.64 meters.