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Teenage athletes deliver gold, bronze for Korea at Winter Olympics

Published: 13 Feb. 2026, 09:33

SHIN MIN-HEE
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Choi Ga-on of Korea celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb. 12. [YONHAP]

Teenage athletes shone for Korea at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.

The 17-year-old snowboarder Choi Ga-on delivered the gold medal in the women's halfpipe event at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy. Then, about an hour later, Rim Jong-un, the 18-year-old short tracker, claimed the bronze medal in the men's 1,000-meter race at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan.

Choi's was Korea's first gold medal of this year's Olympics, while Rim brought Korea its first short track medal in Milan.

Choi overcame a nasty fall during the first of her three runs. She was tended to by medics for a few minutes and appeared in danger of missing the rest of the final. However, with only the best score of the three counting for the final standings, Choi capitalized on her third run by earning 90.25 points.

In the process, Choi denied her idol, Chloe Kim of the United States, a historic third straight gold. Kim took the silver medal this time with 88.00 points, her score from the first run.

Choi became the youngest snowboarder ever to win the event, claiming the title seven months younger than Kim was when she set the previous record.

Rim Jong-un of Korea celebrates with the Taegeukgi, the Korean national flag, draped over his shoulders after winning the bronze medal in the men’s 1,000-meter short-track speed skating final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb. 12. [YONHAP]

On the ice, Rim staged a late rally for the bronze medal behind Jens van 't Wout of the Netherlands and Sun Long of China. It was Rim's first career medal in his first Olympic final, after he clocked 1 minute 24.62 seconds.

With these two medals, Korea now has one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Three of those four medals have come from snowboarding.

Also on Thursday, the women's curling team split its first two matches at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Skip Gim Eun-ji's team lost to the United States 8-4 in the opener but bounced back to beat Italy 7-2 in the evening session.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE, YONHAP [[email protected]]