Korea wins silver in women's short track relay

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Korea wins silver in women's short track relay

Published: 13 Feb. 2022, 22:07 Updated: 14 Feb. 2022, 13:20

From left, Choi Min-jeong, Seo Whi-min, Lee Yu-bin and Kim A-lang celebrate winning the women's 3,000-meter relay silver medal at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Korea won the women’s 3,000-meter relay silver medal at the Beijing Olympics after a big comeback on Sunday, with Choi Min-jeong, Kim A-lang, Seo Whi-min and Lee Yu-bin crossing the finish line second with a time of 4:03.627.

Korea raced in the order of Kim, Choi, Lee and Seo. Korea started in last position and remained at the back of the pack for the majority of the race. It wasn't until the final three of 27 laps that Kim pushed past China into third place, and then Choi took over to finish the race.

Choi is known for her last-minute comebacks and this was no exception. Pushing into the outer lane, Choi was able to force her way past Canada in the very last lap to take second place.

The Netherlands won gold and set a new Olympic record of 4:03.409. China took the bronze medal.

This marks Korea’s third consecutive women’s 3,000-meter relay medal, after winning the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics gold medal and the 2018 PyeongChang gold medal. This is also Korea’s seventh medal at the event since it was introduced at the 1992 Winter Games.

Choi Min-jeong, second from left, overtakes Canada in the women's 3,000-meter relay final at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The silver medal comes as Choi’s second medal at the Beijing Games, making her the only Korean athlete so far to win more than one medal. Choi won the women’s 1,000-meter individual silver medal on Friday.

Kim, Lee and Choi will return to the ice on Wednesday for the women’s 1,500-meter race.

They enter that race as serious medal contenders: Choi has held the women's 1,500-meter world record of 2:14.354 since November, 2016 and Lee is the current world No. 1.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]