‘Hangzhou Triple Crown Winners’ Cyclists Kim Jeong-bin and Yoon Jung-heon, New Competition Record… golden start

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Dong-han and joint reporters = 'Hangzhou Triple Crown Winner' Cyclist Kim Jeong-bin (34) and pilot Yoon Jung-heon (34, Gyeonggi Province Disabled Cycling Federation) made a strong start toward winning the triple gold medal for the second time in a row with a new competition record.

Kim Jung-bin and Yoon Jung-heon overtook the Japanese pair of Kazuhei Kimura and Kiaki Miura in the final of the cycle track men's 4,000m individual pursuit (sport grade B) at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games held at the Izu Velodrome in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan on the 19th and won the gold medal.

Earlier, the two athletes advanced to the finals in first place, setting a new competition record of 4 minutes 26.010 seconds in the preliminaries.

Kim Jeong-bin and Yoon Jung-heon, who swept the 4,000m individual pursuit, 18.5km road solo, and 69km individual road races at the last Hangzhou Games, cruised to gold medals from the first event this time.

The two ride a two-seater bicycle called a tandem cycle. Yoon Jung-heon, a non-disabled person, holds the steering wheel in the front, while Kim Jeong-bin, a visually impaired person, pedals from behind.

The pilot, the competition partner, adjusts the driving speed and determines the direction, and the visually impaired athlete adds strength accordingly.

Medals are awarded to both athletes.

The two athletes, who began working together ahead of the Hangzhou Games, also won gold medals together in this competition.

Yoon Jung-heon, who was a firefighter at Namyangju Fire Station at the time, was also a member of the national team and trained on his off-duty days.

He continued his career as an athlete by participating in international competitions on official leave, and continued his golden relationship with Kim Jeong-bin in two consecutive competitions, winning his fourth gold medal at the Asian Para Games.

After the game, Kim Jeong-bin said, "I'm really happy. I'm also grateful to pilot Yoon Jung-heon. I was very nervous, but I was confident that I could achieve a good result in the finals."

It was a victory that shone through thorough strategy.

The two players expected that their final opponent, the Japanese group, would come out strong from the beginning and prepared for it.

Kim Jeong-bin said, "I thought the Japanese athletes would try to overtake us because they are sprinters. I expected them to push hard from the beginning."

He continued, “We took this into account and increased the speed strongly from the start of the game, and thanks to that, we were able to achieve good results.”

The meaning of this gold medal is special.

Kim Jeong-bin confessed, "I think that each competition could be the last competition. I had a lot of difficulties before participating in this competition."

The two athletes, who took the top spot in the first event, are determined to continue their golden run on the track and road following the Hangzhou competition.

Kim Jeong-bin said emphatically, “The goal of this competition is to win gold medals in both track and road events.”