What's to blame for all the Olympic short track tumbles? 'Soft ice,' it turns out.
Published: 12 Feb. 2026, 14:32
Updated: 12 Feb. 2026, 19:55
![Kim Gil-li of Korea, bottom, 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. [KIM JONG-HO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/12/d200c443-6a8e-4924-b6b0-09973a74a1de.jpg)
Kim Gil-li of Korea, bottom, 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. [KIM JONG-HO]
A number of falls during short track speed skating events at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics has prompted the question: Is something going on with the rink?
The answer, it turns out, is "soft ice."
The Korean national team fell victim to the surface's quality during the mixed team relay semifinals at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Tuesday after a U.S. skater's blade kicked up and sent her sliding into the boards, taking Korean skater Kim Gil-li with her.
After competing in the first short track events on Tuesday, members of the Korean team said the ice surface at the skating rink was soft and slippery, raising the risk of falling.
“The ice condition on race day was worse than during training,” said Rim Jong-un, the men’s team ace. “The ice was soft, and many athletes struggled overall.”
Jens van ’t Wout of the Netherlands concurred, noting that he has had some trouble with his blades: “The ice is really tricky here right now."
Canada’s William Dandjinou also commented on the conditions.
"The ice was pretty bad, honestly, but I feel like that's always a little bit of the case when we share the ice with figure skating," said Dandjinou. "You just got to adapt, and that's what we did.”
Why is sharing a rink with figure skating events an issue?
According to the website of Minnesota-based figure skate maker Reidell, figure skaters prefer ice with a temperature of minus 4.4 to minus 3.3 degrees Celsius (24 to 26 degrees Fahrenheit), while other ice sports such as hockey and speed skating prefer "harder" ice at minus 8.3 to minus 5 degrees.
Softer ice allows figure skaters to dig in more for certain spin elements and provides a — slightly — softer landing surface for jumps. For speed skaters, however, hard ice offers less surface resistance, beneficial in a sport that's all about speed. Hockey players prefer colder ice for the same reason, as well as the decreased likelihood of gouges and ice shrapnel interfering with the puck's flight across the surface.
![Corinne Stoddard, right, of the United States crashes as Courtney Sarault of Canada avoids her while competing in the team mixed relay short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/12/b865e55e-d315-4587-9252-e3f479e5bd53.jpg)
Corinne Stoddard, right, of the United States crashes as Courtney Sarault of Canada avoids her while competing in the team mixed relay short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 10. [AP/YONHAP]
Several short track skaters fell on the first day of competition. U.S. skater Corinne Stoddard fell in the mixed 2,000-meter semifinal, colliding with Korea's Kim, who was skating behind her, putting a damper on Korea's medal hopes in the discipline. Stoddard also fell in the women’s 500-meter heats.
The Netherlands also failed to reach the final in the mixed 2,000-meter relay after Xandra Felzebuhr fell during the semifinal. The Netherlands had been considered a strong medal contender along with Korea.
Soft ice appears to favor the home team, Italy, which has trained at the venue. Italy defeated Canada in the mixed 2,000-meter relay and won the gold medal.
“The ice was difficult today, and we were among the best at interpreting it,” Italian skater Pietro Sighel told Reuters.
The scheduling and management of the venue may have affected the quality of the ice.
![Luca Casassa, spokesperson for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic organizing committee, speaks during a press conference of the committee in Milan on Sept. 17, 2025. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/12/c44e970b-a6c1-438e-b3db-51eb3b9972d3.jpg)
Luca Casassa, spokesperson for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic organizing committee, speaks during a press conference of the committee in Milan on Sept. 17, 2025. [AP/YONHAP]
During this competition, short track and figure skating events are sometimes held on the same day, in the morning and afternoon, making it difficult to manage the temperature of the ice.
At the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, short track and figure skating were also held at the same venue. However, the organizing committee carefully managed the ice by time slot and avoided major problems.
At that time, officials checked the ice condition daily at specific time periods, drilling thin holes in 21 spots on the rink to measure depth.
Despite complaints from athletes, the Milan-Cortina organizing committee says there is no problem with ice management.
“What I can guarantee you is that the ice master [who] measures the temperature of the ice and monitors the quality of the ice constantly during competition management has received positive evaluations,” said Luca Casassa, a spokesperson for the Milan-Cortina organizing committee, claiming, “We are honestly getting compliments for the quality of the surfaces.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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