The Korea Roller Sports Federation announced Monday that 30 athletes, including Choi Woong-gyu and Lee Ye-rim, were selected as national team members at the 2026 speed roller sports national team trials, held over three days beginning Wednesday in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province.
The federation ran two separate selection processes over the three-day event. The first, the 2026 speed national team trials, ran over two days and selected the top finisher in each division across five track events — dual time trial 200m, sprint 500m+D, sprint 1,000m, points 5,000m and elimination 10,000m — matching the World Speed Championships program. Choi Woong-gyu (Gangneung City Hall, Gangwon Province) and Lee Ye-rim (Nonsan City Hall, South Chungcheong Province) were among 10 athletes named to the senior squad, while Lee Hyeon-seong (Dongan High School Year 1, Gyeonggi Province) and Kwon Se-jin (Korea Hotel & Tourism High School Year 1, North Chungcheong Province) were among 10 selected in the junior division, bringing the total to 24 national team members.
Choi Woong-gyu, who set a Korean record in the dual time trial 200m at the 46th Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Cup national inline speed competition in June, lived up to expectations by finishing first in the same event at the trials to secure his national team spot without difficulty.
The 500m+D produced a razor-thin finish, with Yeon Je-jong (North Jeolla Province One Sports Club) and Kim Tae-yang (Anyang City Hall, Gyeonggi Province) battling all the way to the line before Yeon edged Kim by 0.002 seconds to claim the national team berth.
The 1,000m delivered a surprise. With Yeon Je-jong and Im Seong-uk (Gangneung City Hall, Gangwon Province) among the favorites, Lee Dong-min (Anyang City Hall, Gyeonggi Province) crossed the line first to earn his first national team selection.
Yang Seon-ho (South Gyeongsang Province Office) topped the points 5,000m with 19 points, comfortably outscoring Kang Ji-hun (Seo-gu Office, Busan) with 12 points and Lee Jae-won (Anyang City Hall, Gyeonggi Province) with 8 points, earning his first national team call-up.
In the elimination 10,000m, Jeong Cheol-gyu of Gangneung City Hall (Gangwon Province) beat out Kim Seon-yeop (North Jeolla Province One Sports Club) and Lee Seong-geon (Yeosu City Hall, South Jeolla Province) to finish first and earn national team selection.
In the senior women's 1,000m, Lee Ye-rim (Nonsan City Hall, South Chungcheong Province) crossed the line well clear of An Seon-ha (Gangneung City Hall, Gangwon Province) and Kim Min-seo (Daejeon Facilities Management Corporation), confirming her status as the dominant force in the event and securing her national team place.
Lee's teammate Shim Chae-eun also earned selection, winning the dual time trial 200m ahead of Lee Yu-jin (Andong City Hall, North Gyeongsang Province) and Lee Da-yeon (North Jeolla Province Roller Sports Federation).
In the 500m+D, the disqualification of Andong City Hall's Park Min-jeong and Lee Yu-jin handed Lee Da-yeon (North Jeolla Province Roller Sports Federation) a fortunate first national team selection.
Yang Do-i (Andong City Hall, North Gyeongsang Province), a standout in long-distance events, claimed the points 5,000m on the first day with 26 points, comfortably ahead of Kang Min-seo (South Gyeongsang Province Office) with 17 points and Moon Ji-yun (Yeosu City Hall, South Jeolla Province) with 11 points, to earn national team selection.
The elimination 10,000m came down to a battle between Kang Min-seo (South Gyeongsang Province Office) and Moon Ji-yun (Yeosu City Hall, South Jeolla Province) until the very end, with Kang crossing the line first to claim the national team spot.
In the junior men's division, Lee Hyeon-seong and Lee Seong-jun — both Year 1 students at Dongan High School in Gyeonggi Province and former youth national team members — earned their first junior national team selections by finishing first in the dual time trial 200m and points 5,000m respectively. Jeong Yeong-un (Jeonju Life Science High School Year 2, North Jeolla Province), who represented Korea at the 2024 World Championships, fought off Park Sung-hoon (South Chungcheong Province Sports High School Year 2) in the 1,000m to earn selection, continuing a run of national team appearances stretching back to middle school. Park claimed the 500m+D title to secure his own national team berth, while Kim Min-geon (Hagik High School Year 1, Incheon) earned his first national team selection in the elimination 10,000m.
In the junior women's division, Kwon So-hee (South Chungcheong Province Sports High School Year 1) and Kwon Se-jin (Korea Hotel & Tourism High School Year 1, North Chungcheong Province) — both 2025 national team members who competed at the Asian and World Championships — were first to secure selection by winning the dual time trial 200m and points 5,000m respectively. In the 1,000m, Park Ga-eun (Jecheon Girls' High School Year 3, North Chungcheong Province) edged Kim Ye-ram (Gyeongpo High School Year 3, Gangwon Province) by 0.124 seconds to cross the line first and earn her first national team selection. Shim Eun-se (South Chungcheong Province Sports High School Year 1), younger sister of senior women's team member Shim Chae-eun, won the 500m+D to join her sister on the national team. Kim Hee-jeong (Incheon Lifestyle Science High School Year 3) rounded out the junior women's selections by crossing the line first in the elimination 10,000m.
The 24 athletes named to the 2026 speed national team will not compete at the 2026 World Speed Championships in Asuncion, Paraguay. Instead, they are scheduled to participate in the 2026 Taiwan International Roller Skating Open in Taipei in November. The federation had applied to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee to hold a pre-competition event after the World Speed Championships schedule conflicted with the 107th National Sports Festival, but the application was rejected, forcing the federation to forgo sending the national team to the world meet.
In response, the federation held separate junior national team trials for the 2026 World Speed Championships, targeting athletes at the minimum junior age threshold — ninth graders born in 2011 — and outstanding high school competitors. Although the federation had not initially considered sending athletes to the World Championships given the scheduling conflict, it decided to give younger athletes unaffected by the National Sports Festival the opportunity to gain international experience, selecting participants through the trials and granting them national team status.
Those trials produced eight junior men's national team selections for the 2026 World Speed Championships, where all eight will compete on the world stage for the first time in their careers.
Korea Roller Sports Federation President Kim Gyeong-seok thanked all athletes, coaches and officials who helped the August trials — an unusual scheduling first — run smoothly despite the intense summer heat, noting that competition was split between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. sessions to manage the conditions. Closing the trials, he said the process of preparing for and competing in the national team trials mattered more than which international competition athletes ultimately attend. "What matters more, I think, is the process of shaping yourself — body and mind — into a true national team athlete through the trials," he said, urging all selected athletes to treat the experience as an opportunity for growth.
Kim also expressed satisfaction that the youth national team program, launched in 2024 and fully operational since 2025, had clearly borne fruit at these trials. "While it would be premature to draw conclusions from one or two results, I am confident that the youth national team program is having a significantly positive impact on developing elite athletes from a long-term perspective," he said, adding that he expects the program to become a sustained pipeline of speed roller sports talent for Korea.
During the trials, a sponsorship ceremony was also held at the Jecheon Indoor Roller Arena, where HJC Hongjin Helmet signed an agreement to supply competition helmets to the 2026 speed national team athletes. Kim said the sponsorship would give team morale a significant boost and thanked HJC Hongjin Helmet for its support. He also exchanged views with the company's representatives, including a request to develop helmet products suited to skateboarding — an Olympic discipline — to help improve performance and ensure safety for skateboarders.
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