The medal was awarded to Wataru Morishige, who won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, 500 meters for men's speed skating.
21-year-old Morishige, who participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, won the championship for the first time in the All Japan Distance Speed Skating Championships in October last year, overtaking his rivals, and also won the World Cup for the first time this season. is.
On the 12th, Morishige, who participated in the men's 500 meters of the Beijing Olympics, accelerated with his light curve work and won the bronze medal with a time of 34.49 seconds at the second start after having to start over with flying. ..
This is the first time a Japanese player has won a medal in this event since the 2010 Vancouver Games.
After the race, at the medal award ceremony held at the Medal Plaza in Beijing, Morishige seemed calm and picked up the medal himself and hung it around his neck.
After the award ceremony, Morishige said, "The medal is the heaviest of all the medals I have ever taken. When the national flag was raised, I was born with the idea that I should continue to stand on this stage as a representative of Japan." I did.
He said, "I want to do my best to aim for a gold medal in four or eight years," and looked ahead to the future Olympics.