Home > Sports > Olympic Sports

Korean short trackers head to Asian Winter Games in China aiming for six golds

Published: 03 Feb. 2025, 09:50 Updated: 03 Feb. 2025, 09:52

Korea's short track speed skating team members from left: Park Ji-won, Kim Tae-sung, Choi Min-jeong and Kim Gil-ri celebrate after winning a gold medal at the 2024-2025 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour, held at Mokdong Ice Rink in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on Dec. 15, 2024. [YONHAP]

Korean short track speed skaters traveled to the Chinese city of Harbin for the upcoming Asian Winter Games on Sunday, with their sights set on grabbing six gold medals.

"We are looking at winning six gold medals or more," head coach Yoon Jae-myung told reporters at Incheon International Airport, Incheon. "Our athletes are in decent form, and we'll do our best to accomplish our goal."

The opening ceremony of the ninth Asian Winter Games is Friday, with preliminary races in short track scheduled for earlier in the day. The first set of five gold medals in short track will be awarded Saturday, followed by the four remaining gold medals Sunday.

On Saturday, the 2,000-meter mixed relay will be the first final, and the finals for the men's and women's 1,500m and 500m will take place. Sunday will see the finals for the men's and women's 1,000m, the women's 3,000m relay and the men's 5,000m relay.

The women's team features three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong, who took a leave of absence last season and has come back strong this season. She's joined by Kim Gil-li, the reigning International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup overall champion and Shim Suk-hee, who has won two Olympic gold medals.

Short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong speaks to the media at Incheon International Airport on Feb 2 before departing to China for the Asian Winter Games. [NEWS1]

"The 2,000m mixed relay will be the first final, and we want to get off to a good start there," Choi said. "Since the competition is in China, we expect some tough competition against Chinese skaters. We will try to avoid collisions with them and stay on our feet to win gold medals."

Kim, who won five gold medals at the Winter World University Games in Italy last month, said, "I'd like to win five gold medals in Harbin too."

Park Ji-won, who has won the past two ISU World Cup overall titles, will lead the men's squad, joined by Jang Sung-woo and Kim Gun-woo. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Lee Jung-su, the team's elder statesman at 35, will be competing in the relay.

The men's team may face rockier paths to the podium than the women, with China featuring the Korean-born Olympic champion Lin Xiaojun and brothers Liu Shaoang and Liu Shaolin, former Hungarian Olympic gold medalists now skating for the country of their father.

Park said he is ready for the challenge ahead, both physically and mentally.

"I think all the top skaters at the competition are virtually on the same level in terms of their skills," Park said. "It will come down to who can handle the mental side of the competition better. That's where I've been focusing on during my preparation."

At the previous Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, in 2017, Korea won five out of eight gold medals at stake. Choi and Shim won the women's 1,500m and the 1,000m gold medals, respectively, and combined for the 3,000m relay title.

Yonhap