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Korea adds four medals as curtain comes down on short track at Asian Games

Published: 09 Feb. 2025, 15:45 Updated: 09 Feb. 2025, 19:09

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong, right, skates during the women's 1,000-meter final at the Asian Winter Games at the Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, on Feb. 9. [YONHAP]

Team Korea added four medals in short track speed skating at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, on Sunday, ending this year’s tournament as the most successful country in the sport with 13 medals.

Sunday saw the curtain come down on the three-day short track speed skating schedule at this year’s Asiad, where Korea dominated from the start as it had in previous Asian Games.

The country won two gold and two silver medals on Sunday in the women and men’s 1,000-meter races at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall.

Choi Min-jeong was once again a star in the women’s 1,000-meter final, winning her third gold medal in Harbin and securing gold in every single race — the 500-meter, 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter, 3,000-meter relay and mixed 2,000-meter relay — at the Asiad in the process.

Kim Gil-li claimed silver in the women’s 1,000-meter race and also secured her fourth Asiad medal this year, having won gold in the mixed 2,000-meter relay and 1,500-meter and silver in the 500-meter earlier in the tournament.

Fellow countrywoman Lee So-yeon also stood on the podium this year with a bronze in the women’s 500-meter. Shim Suk-hee, Noh Do-hee and Kim Geon-hee, meanwhile, failed to secure a medal in the women’s competition this year.

Over in the men’s 1,000-meter race, Jang Sung-woo won a gold medal and Park Ji-won secured silver, which turned out to be Korea’s last medals in the sport this year.

Korean short track speed skaters Park Ji-won, left, and Jang Sung-woo celebrate after finishing the men's 1,000-meter final at the Asian Winter Games at the Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, on Feb. 9. [NEWS1]

Team Korea missed medals in the women’s 3,000-meter relay and men’s 5,000-meter relay races that took place later on Sunday.

Kim slipped in the last lap of the women’s race, while the men’s relay ended medalless for Korea despite finishing in second after a video review determined that Park had committed a penalty during his collision with Lin Xiaojun, a Korean-born Chinese who naturalized, in the last lap.

Korean short track speed skater Park Ji-won, left, skates alongside Lin Xiaojun of China in the men's 5,000-meter relay final at the Asian Winter Games at the Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, on Feb. 9. [NEWS1]

Park still ends this year’s Asiad with four medals: Two gold from the mixed team 2,000-meter relay and men’s 1,500-meter and two silver from the 500 and 1,000-meter races.

Jang also enjoyed success this year with one gold from the 1,000-meter and two bronze from the 500 and 1,500-meter events.

Kim Tae-sung won a gold in the mixed team 2,000-meter relay, but three countrymen Kim Gun-woo, Lee Jung-su and Park Jang-hyuk fell short in the quests for medals this year.

Team Korea still tops this year’s Asian Games medal count in short track speed skating for the seventh consecutive time. The country also surpassed the 100th medal mark in the sport this year as the total medal count hit 109.

Korea has secured most of its medals from short track speed skating at the Asiad so far this year. The medals from the sport alone account for half of the country's 26 medals in the tournament, a total that puts the country in second in the medal ranking as of press time Sunday.

Host country China leads the medal count with 40, with Japan coming in at third.

Athletes will continue to chase glory in the Asian Games through its final day on Feb. 14.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]