South Korea’s main focus in roller skating is speed. Public interest in roller skating began to grow in 2004 when Kwok Chae-i, a double junior world champion, gained popularity as an ‘inline athlete’.In the mid-to-late 2000s, “Roller Queen” Woo Hyo-sook dominated the international scene, turning South Korea into a roller powerhouse. Woo became the first Korean roller to win a senior gold medal at the World Championships in 2003 at the age of 17. She went on to win gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and dominate the world stage with four world titles in 2011.With Woo at the helm, the South Korean team defeated world champions Colombia at the 2009 World Championships to finish first overall (15 gold, 15 silver, 9 bronze) and swept the medal table at the Guangzhou Asian Games, winning three gold, two silver and two bronze medals, establishing the sport as a ‘filial’ discipline .However, the sport’s popularity has waned, and a lack of generational change in the national team has led to a significant decline in Korean roller’s status. The team finished 13th overall at last year’s World Championships with one silver and two bronze ‘gold’ medals. As an unpopular sport, it has a limited presence at the Asian Games .It was first included in the programme at Guangzhou 2010, but was dropped from Incheon 2014 and reduced to two men’s and women’s road 20,000m events at Jakarta-Palembang 2018.It was expanded to three events – the 1,000 metres sprint, the 10,000 metres excluded plus points (EP) and the 3.000 metres relay – but its existence will be in jeopardy again at Aichi-Nagoya in 2026.As such, the speed squad is desperate to go for gold as this could be their last Asian Games ppearance. Leading the way will be Choi Kwang-ho (30-Daegu City Hall) and Chung Chul-won (27-Andong City Hall) in the men’s 1,000 metres .While Choi Kwang-ho is a veteran with two silver medals at the Asian Games, Chung Chul-won is a newcomer who was in contention for the title at last year’s World Championships. Choi won silver in the EP 10,000m at Guangzhou 2010 and was runner-up in the 20,000m at Jakarta-Palembang 2018. No stranger to short and long distances, Choi will be aiming 스포츠토토존 for a gold medal in the 1,000 metres this time around.