Lotte Group establishes ski, snowboard team to support young athletes

Lotte Group establishes ski, snowboard team [Photo courtesy of Lotte Group]

Lotte Group is fostering talented young skiers and snowboarders in hopes to create global winter sports stars for South Korea.

Lotte Group said Monday that it has established a ski and snowboard team and recruited four members from Korea’s national snow sports team - Lee Chae-woon, Lee Seung-hoon, Jung Dae-yoon, and Choi Gaon. It will help the four teen athletes with training and other preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics and other international competitions.

Lee Chae-woon, 16, ranked 18th in the half-pipe snowboarding competition and Lee Seung-hoon, 17, came in 16th in the freeski half-pipe event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Jung Dae-yoon, 17, ranked 13th in the freestyle mogul skiing event at this year’s Ski World Cup. Choi Gaon, 14, clinched the top spot in the half-pipe competition at the 2022 Snowboard Junior World Championships.

Lotte Group has been sponsoring the Korea Ski Association since 2014, spending 17.5 billion won ($13.4 million) over the past nine years. Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, served as chairman of the ski association from 2014 to 2018.

Korea won its first-ever Olympic medal in snow competition at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games when snowboarder Lee Sangho won a silver medal in the men’s parallel giant slalom event.