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Speed skater Chung Jae-won finishes 5th in men's mass start

Published: 22 Feb. 2026, 10:27

Chung Jae-won of Korea, center, competes in the semifinals of the men's mass start speed skating event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on Feb. 21. [YONHAP]

Chung Jae-won finished fifth in the men's mass start speed skating event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, falling short of his bid for a third straight medal on the long track.

Chung finished with a time of 8:04.60 at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on the final day of speed skating races. 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.

Korea is in danger of being shut out of speed skating medals for the first time since 2006, with the women's mass start featuring Park Ji-woo scheduled for later on Saturday.

Chung won a team pursuit silver medal as a 16-year-old during the 2018 PyeongChang Games and a mass start silver four years later in Beijing.

He had hoped to become the youngest Korean speed skater ever to have 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 instead of in pairs like in other speed skating events, and some physical contact is allowed.

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

Yonhap