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Korea grabs gold in women's short track relay

Published: 19 Feb. 2026, 09:10 Updated: 19 Feb. 2026, 12:29

YOON SO-YEON
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Korea's Choi Min-jeong, left, celebrates with teammate Kim Gil-li after winning the gold medal in the women's 3,000-meter relay in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 18. [YONHAP]

Korea captured the women's short track relay title on Wednesday for its first gold medal in the sport at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

The quartet of Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li, Shim Suk-hee and Noh Do-hee finished first in the women's 3,000-meter short track relay, ahead of Italy and Canada at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan. This was Korea's second gold medal of this year's Winter Games.

Korea came into Wednesday with one silver and two bronze medals in short track, a letdown by the lofty standards of the longtime short track powerhouse. With the latest victory, Korea continues to lead the all-time short track medal race with 27 gold medals and 57 medals in total. This is also the seventh gold medal by Korea's women's relay team, following wins in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2018.

Korea now has two gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals at this Olympics.

This was Choi's sixth career medal, tying her with three others for the most Olympic medals by a Korean athlete, winter or summer. Former archer Kim Soo-nyung, retired shooter Jin Jong-oh and speed skater Lee Seung-hoon also won six medals apiece. With her fourth gold, Choi has also drawn level with former short tracker Chun Lee-kyung for the most Winter Games gold medals by a Korean athlete.

Members of the Korean women's short track speed skating relay team celebrate their gold medal at the Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 18. From left: Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li, Noh Do-hee, Shim Suk-hee and Lee So-yeon. [YONHAP]

Members of the Korean women's short track speed skating relay team jump onto the top of the podium after winning the gold medal at the Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Feb. 18. From left: Shim Suk-hee, Noh Do-hee, Lee So-yeon, Kim Gil-li and Choi Min-jeong. [YONHAP]

Shim now has three Olympic gold medals, all of them coming in the 3,000-meter relay. Kim and Noh each won their first gold medals, with Kim having earlier grabbed bronze in the women's 1,000 meters in Milan. Lee So-yeon, who competed in the relay semifinals, was also awarded the gold medal, the first of her career.

Choi led off the 27-lap race on Wednesday and immediately took the lead position. Canada quickly took over, and then, with 20 laps left, it was Canada-Netherlands-Korea.

With 16 laps remaining, though, Michelle Velzeboer of the Netherlands hit the blade of a Canadian skater's skate and fell, nearly taking down Choi with her. Choi managed to stay on her feet, with Canada and Italy ahead of Korea at that point. Canada maintained a sizable lead but with five laps remaining, a Canadian skater lost her balance and nearly fell, allowing Italy to take over first place.

On the next lap, Shim pushed Choi into second place, ahead of Canada and behind only Italy. Choi stayed there before making one final exchange with the team's anchor, Kim. And with two laps remaining, Kim powered past the Italian veteran Arianna Fontana and crossed the line first for Korea's first women's relay gold in eight years.

The final day of short track races will be Friday, with the women's 1,500 meters and the men's 5,000-meter relay on tap. Korea is in the relay final, and Choi will try to win her third straight gold medal in the 1,500 meters. The 2026 Winter Olympics will wrap up on Sunday.

Also on Wednesday, Korea defeated Sweden 8-3 in the women's curling tournament at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Korea scored three points in the opening end and never trailed the rest of the way.

In snowboard, women's big air bronze medalist Yu Seung-eun finished in 12th place in the slopestyle at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy.

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]