Dankook University held its 8th annual National Elementary School Ski Competition to find rising ski talents and expand the base to make the nation a Winter Olympics powerhouse in preparation for the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.
The competition held at the Alpensia Resort in PyeongChang on January 5 and 6, ended in great success with nearly 200 elementary school students participating. This competition took place at the official 2018 PyeongChang Olympics alpine and cross country ski courses, offering a precious opportunity for students to experience the Olympics in advance.
The competition was divided into two parts in order to meet both goals of cultivating ski talents and promoting winter sports in Korea. In the 1st part of the competition, elementary school students who are registered with the Korean Ski Association competed in alpine (spin and big spin) and cross country (short track and long track); 14.4 million won was awarded to the athletes. The students who are not registered with the Korean Ski Association competed in alpine only in the 2nd part of the competition.
The JoongJaeBae National Elementary School Ski Competition started in 2008 by former students commemorating JoongJae Chang Choongsik, Chairman of the Dankook Foundation, who has been consistently dedicating his life to developing the nation’s winter sports. At the first competition in 2008, Dankook University attracted the nation’s attention for reviving the ski competition for elementary school students on a national scale which was stagnant until that time. Celebrating the 8th anniversary this year, the JoongJaeBae competition has become the largest ski competition for elementary school students in the nation.
Among the former participants, four of them are currently members of the national alpine ski team; Dongwoo Kim (Korea National Sport University), Sohee Kim (Sangjidaegwallyeong High School), Eunhwa Cho (Yonsei University), Youngseo Kang (Seongil Woman’s High School). Also, four alpine (Dongkwan Hong, SeungPyo Lee, Junghyun Choi, Jinsol Noh) and one cross country (Eunji Kim) athletes are listed as substitutes for the national team.