Lee Hye-jin (left) of the national cycling team.

Cyclists Lee Hye-jin (Seoul Metropolitan Government) and Chosun Young (Sangju

City Government) have reached the final of the women’s keirin at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

Lee finished second, 0.067 seconds behind leader Zhang Linyin (CHN), in the

women’s keirin semifinal on Sunday at the Jiexiu Sports Center Velodrome in Chun’an, Hangzhou, China.

After finding herself at the back of the pack early in the race, Lee used a last-

minute spurt to move up and punch her ticket to the final, which is reserved for the top three finishers.

Lee, who finished fourth at Incheon 2014 and silver at Jakarta-Palembang 2018, is

back in contention for a medal after reaching the final in three consecutive events.

Choi also advanced to the final after competing in the first semifinal. Cho punched her ticket to the final in third place, 0.193 seconds behind first-place finisher Mina Sato (JPN).

She made a spurt on the final lap to move up to third and held off the rest of the field to secure her spot in the final.

This is the second consecutive finalist for Choi, who also competed at Jakarta-Palembang 2018. Back then, she finished fifth.

Lee and Choi, who shared the silver medal in the women’s sprint team event the day before, were also in the final of the individual event, keirin.

The final included two Japanese athletes, Sato and Riyu Ota, two Chinese athletes, Zhang Linyin and Wang Lijuan, and two Koreans. 19가이드03