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Medal hope dashed in short track; figure skater in 6th place after men's short program

Published: 11 Feb. 2026, 09:05 Updated: 11 Feb. 2026, 09:29

LIM JEONG-WON
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Korean short track team members are seen after the mixed team relay match at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10. [YONHAP]

Korea's hope for a medal on the first day of short track speed skating at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games was dashed by an unfortunate collision Tuesday, as the country was kept off the board after winning a medal on each of the past two days in northern Italy.

The first set of short track medals was awarded in the mixed team relay Tuesday at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, but Korea couldn't get out of the semifinals and settled for an appearance in the consolation "B" final.

During the semifinals of this 18-lap, 2,000-meter race, Corinne Stoddard of the United States fell and took down Korean skater Kim Gil-li with her — costing both teams a chance to compete for a medal.

After finishing in third place behind Canada and Belgium with a time of 2 minutes 46.554 seconds, the Korean national team filed an appeal, claiming that they should have earned an advance due to the U.S. penalty, but the referee ruled that the advance could not be awarded because Kim Gil-li had been in third place, not first or second, at the time of the collision.

Kim sustained a cut on her right arm and was treated for bleeding, but team officials said she should be good to go in upcoming races.

In the consolation B ranking match, Korea placed second behind the Netherlands.

Before the relay, Kim, Choi Min-jeong and Lee So-yeon all progressed to the quarterfinals of the women's 500 meters. On the men's side, Rim Jong-un, Shin Dong-min and Hwang Dae-heon made it out of the heats to also advance to the quarterfinals in the 1,000 meters.

Kim Gil-li of Korea, left, is tripped by Corinne Stoddard of the United States during the semifinals of the mixed team relay in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10. [YONHAP]

Both the quarterfinals of the women's 500 meters and the men's 1,000 meters are set to take place on Friday.

In figure skating Tuesday, Cha Jun-hwan put himself in sixth place with his season-best score of 92.72 points, 15.44 points behind the leader, Ilia Malinin of the United States.

In the short program performed to the tune of "Rain, in Your Black Eyes" (2016) by Ezio Bosso, Cha started off by successfully executing a difficult quadruple salchow jump and showed a clean performance, shaking off the mistakes he had made in the team event.

Kim Hyun-gyeom finished 26th with 69.30 points and will miss out on the free skate, reserved for the top 24.

Elsewhere Tuesday, no Korean was able to book a direct ticket to the final in the men's and women's freestyle skiing moguls at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno.

Cha Jun-hwan of Korea performs his short program in the men's singles figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10. [KIM JONG-HO]

In the first qualification round of the men's event, Jung Dae-yoon ranked 27th out of 30 athletes while teammate Lee Yoon-seung failed to finish his race. Only the top 10 skiers in this phase advanced to the final. The remaining 20 athletes will compete in the second qualification round Thursday, with the 10 best skiers earning their spots in the final set for later that same day.

In the women's moguls qualification, Yun Shin-e placed 21st out of 30 and was also relegated to the second qualification round set for Wednesday.

At the Cortina Sliding Center in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Jung Hye-sun, who competed in the women's single luge, finished 24th out of 25 competitors with a combined time of 2 minutes and 43.781 seconds after three runs, failing to qualify for the final four runs, where the top 20 finishers compete.

Jung Hye-sun of Korea is seen after her run at the women's singles luge match at the Cortina Sliding Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy on Feb. 10. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Jung Hye-sun, a former weight lifter, began luge in high school and, after three attempts to represent the national team, made her Olympic debut at the age of 30.

Choi Du-jin, who competed in the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon, finished 85th out of 89 with a time of 1:05:07.6.

Korea's Lee Joon-seo, who competed in the men's sprint classic, and Lee Eui-jin and Han Da-som, who competed in the women's sprint classic, both failed to advance past the preliminaries. Lee Eui-jin and Han Da-som were both disqualified from the event after their equipment "tested positive for fluor," a banned type of wax, according to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).

BY LIM JEONG-WON, YONHAP [[email protected]]