Home > Sports > Olympic Sports

Korea misses out on Olympic speed skating medals for first time in 24 years

Published: 22 Feb. 2026, 10:34 Updated: 22 Feb. 2026, 14:18

Chung Jae-won of Korea, center, skates between Jordan Stolz of the United States, left, and Andrea Giovannini of Italy during the final of the men's mass start speed skating event at the Winter Olympics at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on Feb. 21. [YONHAP]

Korea has failed to win an Olympic speed skating medal for the first time in 24 years.

Korea ended Saturday, the final day of speed skating races at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, without reaching the podium, with Chung Jae-won finishing fifth in the men's mass start and Park Ji-woo ending up in 14th place in the women's mass start.

Chung finished with a time of 8:04.60 at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan. Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands cruised to the gold medal in 7:55.50, and Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark got the silver in 8:00.52.

Andrea Giovannini of Italy took the bronze in 8:04.42.

Jordan Stolz of the United States, who had won two golds and one silver earlier, finished in fourth place in 8:04.51.

Chung, 24, won a team pursuit silver medal as a 16-year-old at PyeongChang 2018, and then a mass start silver four years later in Beijing.

He was trying to become the youngest Korean speed skater ever with at least three Olympic medals.

The mass start, held over 16 laps, is a hybrid race that combines elements of traditional speed skating with highly tactical aspects of short track speed skating. All skaters compete together, rather than in pairs as in other speed skating events, and some physical contact is allowed.

Park Ji-woo of Korea reacts after competing in the final of the women's mass start speed skating event at the Winter Olympics at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on Feb. 21. [YONHAP]

Chung started the race in the back among the 16 finalists. He moved into fifth place after four laps but fell back to 12th place at the halfway mark.

However, Bergsma and Thorup were already far ahead of the pack by that point, daring others to catch them over the final stretch.

As the rest of the skaters picked up speed, Chung moved into seventh place through 15 laps. Chung and others were now fighting for the bronze medal, but Chung's last-gasp push still left him 0.18 seconds behind Giovannini.

In the women's mass start final, Park never found space to challenge for a medal. The skaters were more bunched up in the women's race, with no one taking a huge lead, but everyone started sprinting with two laps remaining. Park briefly moved into ninth place but ended in 14th with a time of 8:36.31.

Marijke Groenewoud completed the Dutch sweep of the mass start titles with a time of 8:34.70. Ivanie Blondin of Canada got the silver in 8:35.09, followed by Mia Manganello of the United States in 8:35.39.

With one more day of competition remaining, Korea has three gold medals, four silver medals and three bronze medals overall.

Yonhap