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Korea's young snowboarders move closer to medals

Published: 12 Feb. 2026, 09:46

Choi Ga-on of Korea performs during the qualification of the women's halfpipe snowboard event at the Winter Olympics at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy, on Feb. 11. [YONHAP]

Teen snowboarders Choi Ga-on and Lee Chae-un both progressed to the finals of the women's and men's halfpipe events at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Choi, 17, finished sixth in her qualification with 82.25 points, as the top 12 boarders advanced to the final scheduled for Thursday at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy.

Two-time defending champion Chloe Kim won the qualification with 90.25 points. The Korean American star will try to become the first snowboarder to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.

In the men's halfpipe qualification, the 19-year-old Lee finished ninth with 82.00 points to join 11 other athletes in the final set for Friday in Livigno.

Both of Korea's medals so far in northern Italy have come from snowboarding — a silver by Kim Sang-kyum in the men's parallel giant slalom and a bronze by Yu Seung-eun in the women's big air.

Korea failed to add to its medal tally for the second straight day.

In speed skating, Koo Kyung-min finished 10th in the men's 1,000 meters with a time of 1:08.53. This was Koo's Olympic debut at age 21. He is also scheduled to race in the 500 meters on Saturday.

Yun Shin-ee missed out on a second chance to qualify for the final in the women's moguls in freestyle skiing at Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park in Livigno.

Yun finished 13th in the second qualification with a score of 64.46 points, as only the top 10 skiers advanced to the final.

From the first qualification round on Tuesday, the top 10 skiers first booked their tickets to the final, while the rest, including 21st-place Yun, were relegated to the second qualification stage. Yun ended up in 24th place overall.

Yonhap