Seong Ji-hoon (born August 4, 1997, as Seong Yu-jin in Cheongju) is a South Korean curler from Gangwon Province.[1] He is currently the alternate on the Gangwon Provincial Office curling team skipped by Park Jong-duk.
| Seong Ji-hoon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Seong Yu-jin August 4, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Curling club | Gangwon Curling, Gangwon, KOR[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skip | Park Jong-duk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Third | Jeong Yeong-seok | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Second | Oh Seung-hoon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lead | Lee Ki-bok | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternate | Seong Ji-hoon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mixed doubles partner | Kim Kyeong-ae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Curling career  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member Association |  South Korea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championship appearances | 1 (2024) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Mixed Championship appearances | 2 (2016, 2019) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pan Continental Championship appearances | 1 (2023) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editJuniors
editIn 2016, Seong and his junior team of Hong Jun-yeong, Jeon Byeong-uk, Lee Ge-on and Lee Jae-ho won the Korean Junior Championship, earning them the right to represent the country at the 2016 World Junior Curling Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.[2] There, the team struggled, finishing in last place in the group with a winless 0–9 record. Despite this, they were not relegated to the B Championship as Gangneung was to host the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships.[3]
The next season, Seong joined the Lee Ki-jeong rink at second and won another Korean Junior title, sending him to his second world junior championship. There, his team found much more success, placing first in the round robin with an 8–1 record and earning a spot in the playoffs.[4] After losing in the 1 vs. 2 game to the United States, the team downed Scotland's Cameron Bryce in the semifinal to qualify for the world junior final. Tied 4–4 in the tenth end, the Korean team scored one to take the win and secure South Korea's first world junior curling title in any discipline.[5]
Men's
editFollowing the 2016–17 season, Seong did not play on a men's team until the 2021–22 season when he joined the Gangwon Provincial Office team skipped by Lee. At the 2021 Korean Curling Championships, the team made it to the finals of the second round but lost to Gyeongbuk Athletic Association's Kim Soo-hyuk, ultimately finishing in second place.[6] The following year, the team, now led by Jeong Yeong-seok, finished 5–2 in the round robin but dropped their semifinal game to Seoul City Hall's Jeong Byeong-jin. They would bounce back in the bronze medal game to defeat Gyeonggido Curling Federation's Kim Jeong-min.[7] Also during the 2022–23 season, Gangwon Provincial Office finished third at the 2022 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic.[8]
For the 2023–24 season, the Gangwon team again revised their lineup with Park Jong-duk taking over as skip. This proved to be a successful move for the team as they went on to run the table at the 2023 Korean Curling Championships to secure the national title, Seong's first time on the national men's team.[9] After an 8–0 record in the first and second rounds, the team beat Seoul City Hall 7–4 in the final. This qualified the team to represent South Korea at the 2023 Pan Continental Curling Championships and the 2024 World Men's Curling Championship, as well as compete in tour events. After a second-place finish at the 2023 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic, Gangwon Province reached the quarterfinals in four straight Canadian tour events.[10] At the Pan Continental Championship, they had a strong start by notably defeating Canada's Brad Gushue 8–5 in the opening draw.[11] They went on to finish the round robin with a 5–2 record, qualifying for the playoffs where they narrowly beat Japan 8–7. This earned them a spot in the gold medal game where, despite a strong start, they gave up key steals in the back half to concede 8–3 to the Canadian team.[12] At the end of the season, Gangwon Provincial Office represented the country at the World Championship where they were unable to replicate their success from earlier in the year, finishing in twelfth place with a disappointing 2–10 record.[13]
Mixed doubles
editIn 2019, Seong teamed up with Olympic mixed doubles player Jang Hye-ji to win the 2019 Korean Mixed Doubles Championship, qualifying for the national team. After the championship, the duo had immediate success by winning the New Zealand Winter Games Mixed Doubles event, defeating Australia's Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt in the final.[14] Later in the season, at the 2019 World Mixed Doubles Qualification Event, the pair finished 5–1 in the round robin, finishing first in their pool and earning a playoff spot.[15] After splitting their first two games, Seong and Jang beat Austria 7–2 in the final qualifier.[16] This earned them the right to compete in the 2020 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, however, the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17] At the 2020 championship, the team defended their title, however, did not represent Korea at the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship after being beat out by Kim Ji-yoon and Moon Si-woo in a best-of-three qualifier.[18]
Seong and Jang split after two seasons together and Seong formed a new mixed doubles team with Kim Hye-rin. The pair competed in the 2021 Korean Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, which doubled as the Olympic Trials for the 2022 Winter Olympics. After reaching the playoffs in the first round, the pair struggled to find consistency in the second round, finishing tied for seventh place at the end of the championship.[19]
Mixed
editSeong competed at the 2016 World Mixed Curling Championship as second on the Korean team led by Lee Ki-bok. In the round robin, the team posted a 5–2 record to finish second in their pool and earn a spot in the playoffs.[20] They then beat both Poland and Germany to reach the final four before losing to Russia in the semifinals. In the bronze medal game, they lost 8–4 to Scotland, finishing just off the podium.[21] He returned to the championship three years later in 2019, skipping his own team of Jang Hye-ji, Jeon Jae-ik and Song Yu-jin. Once again, the team finished 5–2 through the round robin before winning two straight playoffs games to reach the semifinals. After losing to Germany in the semifinals, he again lost the bronze medal game for a second time in a row, this time to Norway.[22]
Personal life
editSeong attended Andong National University. He changed his name from Seong Yu-jin to Seong Ji-hoon in 2021.
Teams
edit| Season | Skip | Third | Second | Lead | Alternate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16[23] | Seong Yu-jin | Hong Jun-yeong | Jeon Byeong-uk | Lee Ge-on | Lee Jae-ho |
| 2016–17 | Lee Ki-jeong | Lee Ki-bok | Seong Yu-jin | Choi Jeong-uk | Woo Gyeong-ho |
| 2021–22 | Lee Ki-jeong | Park Jong-duk | Lee Ki-bok | Oh Seung-hoon | Seong Yu-jin |
| 2022–23 | Jeong Yeong-seok | Park Jong-duk | Oh Seung-hoon | Seong Ji-hoon | |
| 2023–24 | Park Jong-duk | Jeong Yeong-seok | Oh Seung-hoon | Seong Ji-hoon | Lee Ki-bok |
| 2024–25 | Park Jong-duk | Jeong Yeong-seok | Oh Seung-hoon | Lee Ki-bok | Seong Ji-hoon |
References
edit- ^ a b Jim Morris (March 29, 2024). "A capsule look at the teams competing at the world men's curling championship". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "World Junior Curling Championships 2016 to be held in Copenhagen". World Curling Federation. January 27, 2016. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "VoIP Defender WJCC 2017 testing teams from around the globe and the 2018 Olympic venue". World Curling Federation. February 13, 2017. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Daniel Etchells (February 19, 2017). "Hosts South Korea maintain perfect start to men's competition at 2017 World Junior Curling Championships". Inside the Games. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Korea win historic gold medal at VoIP Defender World Juniors". World Curling Federation. February 26, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "2021 Korean Curling Championships". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Jeong claim men's Korean Curling Championships title". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "2022 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Park goes undefeated to claim Korean Curling Championships men's title". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Team Jongduk Park: 2023–24". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Canada's Einarson goes 1-1, Gushue drops opener at Pan Continental Curling Championships". TSN. October 29, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Gushue's crew beats Korea to win gold again at Pan Continental Curling Championship". TSN. November 4, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Play-off field complete in Schaffhausen". World Curling Federation. April 5, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Jang/Seong wins New Zealand Winter Games Mixed Doubles". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Pacific-Asia pair and six European teams move closer to World Mixed Doubles qualification". World Curling Federation. December 5, 2019. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "China and Korea complete World Mixed Doubles line-up for 2020". World Curling Federation. December 7, 2019. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "World Mixed Doubles and World Senior Curling Championships 2020 cancelled in Kelowna, Canada". World Curling Federation. March 14, 2020. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Curling doubles team to compete for spot at Beijing Games". Korea JoongAng Daily. May 16, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ '19연승' 컬링 믹스더블 국가대표 된 김민지·이기정 [Kim Min-ji and Ki-jung Kim become national curling mix doubles in '19 win streak']. OhmyStar (in Korean). August 9, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "World Mixed Curling Championship 2016". World Curling Federation. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Russia crowned 2016 World Mixed Curling Champions". World Curling Federation. October 22, 2016. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Back-to-back Gold!". Curling Canada. October 19, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Seong Ji-hoon Past Teams". CurlingZone. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
