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Korea misses out on one Olympic quota place in short track speed skating

Published: 12 Dec. 2025, 10:00

A general view of the Olympic rings outside the Piazza del Duomo ahead of the lighting of the Christmas tree for 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics is pictured on Dec. 6. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea has secured all but one quota spot in short track speed skating for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The International Skating Union (ISU) finalized short track quota allocation for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Thursday. The three best results from four events during the ISU World Tour season were considered for Olympic spots.

For both men and women, there were 32 quota places up for grabs in the 500-meter and 1,000-meter events, and 36 quota places for the 1,500-meter event. The men's 5,000-meter relay and women's 3,000-meter relay each offered eight quota places, and the mixed 2,000-meter relay event had 12 quota places.

Each country could earn a maximum of three quota places per individual event and one quota place per relay event. Teams will each be able to register three men and three women for individual races, and four men and four women for the relays.

Korea ended up getting two quota places for the men's 5000-meter, where it did not win any medals during the World Tour. Korea had just one medal in the women's 500-meter, a bronze medal by Choi Min-jeong in Poland in November, and still secured the full quota places in that distance.

Korea will have full representation in all the other events, too.

Korea leads the all-time Olympic short track medal table with 26 gold medals and 53 medals overall.

Yonhap