By Yoo Jee-ho
GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korean speed skaters will move to the athletes' village for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics this weekend, with other medal hopefuls on ice to follow as the competition nears its beginning.
Long-distance specialists will be the first on the speed skating team to check in on Sunday to Gangneung Olympic Village, which will house athletes in ice events during the Feb. 9-25 Olympics. The early batch of athletes will include Lee Seung-hoon and Kim Bo-reum, both considered medal contenders in the men's and women's mass start, respectively.
In this file photo taken Dec. 29, 2017, South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon competes in the men's 5,000 meters at the National Speed Skating Championships at Taereung International Skating Rink in Seoul. (Yonhap)
They will be followed by sprinters, including two-time women's 500-meter gold medalist Lee Sang-hwa, on Tuesday.
The speed skaters had been training at Taereung International Rink in Seoul. They will now train at the Olympic venue, Gangneung Oval.
Speed skating will open its Olympics with the women's 3,000m next Saturday, and the men's and women's mass start will cap off the competition on Feb. 24.
Other ice sports athletes will also move to Gangneung, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul and the host of all ice events, over the coming days.
The short track speed skating team will check in Monday. South Korea, the all-time leader with 21 Olympic short track golds, could add a few more to that tally this year. Choi Min-jeong and Shim Suk-hee, both on the women's team, will go for a complete South Korean sweep of gold medals -- in the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and 3,000m relay.
There are two training venues for short trackers: Gangneung Ice Arena, which is also the Olympic venue, and Yeongdong University's training rink.
Elsewhere, figure skaters will be coming over to Gangneung over the next four days, starting with the pairs duo of Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan on Sunday.
They'll be followed by Cha Jun-hwan in the men's singles on Monday, the ice dance tandem of Min Yu-ra and Alexander Gamelin on Tuesday, and Choi Da-bin and Kim Ha-nul in the ladies' singles on Wednesday.
The team event's short program is scheduled for next Friday, the day of the Olympic opening ceremony.
All 26 of South Korea's Winter Games gold medals have come from ice.
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