Park competed in her first races at the age of eleven. In January 2006, at the age of twelve, she reached fifth place at the South Korean Junior All-Around Championships. After she had won various national competitions, the South Korean took part in her first major international event in February 2008, the Junior World Championship. When the four-year-old Marrit Leenstra won , Park took a good sixth place, making her the best athlete in her country. In the 2008/09 season she made her debut in the Speed Skating World Cup , where she immediately took fourth position in the team run with her teammates Lee Joo-yeon and No Seon-yeong . With an 18th place over 3000 meters, she also achieved her first World Cup points. After November 2008, Park temporarily retired from the World Cup to focus on the championships that were due in early 2009. At the Junior World Championships in Zakopane , Poland , she then won two medals: the silver medal over 3000 meters and the bronze medal in the team run.
In winter 2009/10, Park experienced another high point in her career when she was nominated for the 2010 Winter Olympics , despite mediocre World Cup results . At 17, she was the youngest of the 16 South Korean speed skaters there. Both starts were rather disappointing: The South Korean team retired in the first lap and occupied eighth and thus last place, over 3000 meters Park was 27th out of 28 participants. Nevertheless, she established herself in the South Korean national team this season and also received regular appearances in the World Cup at the beginning of the 2010/11 season .
Web links
Park Do-yeong in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Park is the family name here, Do-yeong is the first name.
South Korea
