Yun Sung-bin

Yun Sung-bin (; born 23 May 1994) is a South Korean skeleton racer and an actor. He won the gold medal in men's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and was a participant at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Early life and education Born in 1994 in South Korea's southern coastal region of Namhae, South Gyeongsang Province, Yun grew up knowing nothing about the winter sliding sport. Still, as a child, Yun always enjoyed running around at the beach and excelled in many sports at school, including soccer, badminton, competitive running, and jumping, among others.

Yun moved to Seoul when he was in middle school and continued playing sports at school, hoping to get into a sports university. In 100-metre races, he would ask to start 10 metres back from others his age and still beat other runners. At 1.78 meter in height, he could grab a basketball rim with ease. While playing basketball in high school, Yun's natural athletic ability was noticed by his physical education teacher, Kim Young-tae, who was also serving as one of the officials at the Korea Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation at the time.

Career Skeleton Yun is known for his exceptional agility and athleticism, enabling him to pick things up in the sport quickly. Yun is also famous for his Iron Man-like helmet, which makes it appear that the Marvel comic hero is flying full-speed ahead when Yun is on the track.

Yun started skeleton at the age of 18 in early 2012, and after three-month training, he won the national championship in September 2012. Yun made his international debut in the 2012–13 season, appearing at the North American Cup Tour. Yun first garnered attention in the 2013–14 season when he was ranked fifth overall at the 2013–14 FIBT Intercontinental Cup Tour. He won gold in the sixth round of the tour in Whistler, Canada on 5–6 January 2014, becoming the first Korean skeleton slider to finish on top of the podium at an international event. Yun recorded his first World Cup podium with a bronze at Calgary in December 2014. In the overall 2014–15 World Cup rankings, Yun finished his rookie season in sixth place with one silver and two bronze.

In the 2015–16 season, Yun earned his first World Cup gold medal in the seventh round in St. Moritz, along with a silver at the 2016 IBSF World Championships in Igls, finishing the season's overall World Cup rankings in second place with one gold, three silver, and two bronze.

In the 2016–17 season, Yun earned his second World Cup gold medal in the first round in Whistler. He finished the season's overall World Cup rankings in second place with one gold, three silver, and two bronze.

Yun won the overall 2017–18 World Cup, becoming the first Asian athlete to ever win the overall title in the Skeleton World Cup. Despite opting to miss the World Cup finale in Königssee, he managed to score a total of 1,545 points from five wins and two silver medals, giving him enough to win the overall standings ahead of Axel Jungk (1,507 points) and Tomass Dukurs (1,464).

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Yun captured a gold medal, becoming the first athlete from outside Europe and North America to win an Olympic sliding medal and the first athlete from South Korea to win a Winter Olympic medal in a non-ice skating event. His four-run time of 3 minutes, 20.55 seconds was 1.63 seconds ahead of silver medalist Nikita Tregubov of Russia. It was the biggest victory margin in Olympic skeleton, topping 1948 when Italy's Nino Bibbia topped Jack Heaton of the United States by 1.4 seconds in a six-heat race.

In 2026, Yun was appointed as a commentator at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo by broadcasting on JTBC.

Entertainment In 2023, Yun was a contestant on the Netflix reality show Physical: 100. and U+ Mobile TV golf program To Die For. and is set to appear on MBN's new volleyball show, Spike War.

Results World Cup Overall standings 2014—15 2015—16 2016—17 2017—18 Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position 7/8 1218 6th 8/8 1575 2nd 8/8 1623 2nd 7/8 1545 1st 2018—19 2019—20 2020-21 2021-22 Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position 8/8 1680 2nd 8/8 1581 3rd 3/8 607 17 8/8 1012 11

Race victories (10)

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes The House of Ghosts Min-soo

Television series Year Title Role Notes 2025 Pump Up the Healthy Love Himself Special Cameo

Television show Year Title Role Notes 2022 Golf King Cast Member Season 4 2023 Carefree Travellers Returns Episode 9–12 Korean Starcation Host 2024 League of Universities: The Athlete Boys Coach League of Universities: The Athlete Boys Special To Die For Cast Member 2025 Spike War

Web shows Year Title Role 2023 Physical: 100Contestant 2025 Physical: AsiaContestant