So Ira won the gold medal in the men's 500-meter race at the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Cup on Saturday.
In the race held in Gdańsk, Poland, Xu finished in 41.451 seconds, 0.016 seconds faster than silver medalist Stephen Dubois (Canada).
With Saturday's gold medal, Seo became the first Korean to win a gold medal in the 500 meters at this season's ISU World Cup. This is Seo's second gold medal at this tournament, following his first gold medal as a member of the Korean national team in the men's 5,000-meter relay on February 11th.
Seo won two gold medals this season and returned to the national team for the first time in six years. He retired after failing to make the national team for the 2019-20 season, but returned from retirement in 2021 and passed last year's national team selection contest.
Saturday's gold medal marks her first podium finish in an individual event since winning the 1,000 meters in the 2015-16 season.
Xu came close to winning the gold medal in the 500m race at the ISU World Cup in Seoul last December, but China's Liu Shaoang won the gold medal and finished with silver.
JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of Korea JoongAng Ilbo, quoted Seo as saying on Sunday, “I am happy that I was able to overcome the disappointment of winning the silver medal in the fourth event and win.''
The ISU World Cup season spans multiple events over two calendar years, with this season consisting of six events held from October 2023 to February of this year.
Skaters earn points in each competition, and the skater with the most points in a given distance at the end of the season is the winner of that distance.
The skater with the most points overall at the end of the season will be the overall winner.
Last season, Park Ji-won was the men's overall champion and won the Crystal Globe Award (an award created in the 2022-23 season) with 1,068 points.
Park competed in this year's World Cup and won multiple medals, including a gold medal in the 1,000 meters last October.
Seo, 31, has won multiple medals on the international stage, including a bronze medal in the 1,000-meter race at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
Although he did not qualify for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, he may still be eligible to participate in the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.
Text: Baek Ji-hwan [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]