South Korea short track skater Kim Gil-li of Seongnam City Hall won bronze in the women’s 1,000 meters at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics.
Kim finished third in 1:28.614 in the final on Feb. 16 (Korea time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, behind Sandra Felzebur of the Netherlands and Courtney Saro of Canada. The result gave South Korea its sixth medal of the Games.
South Korea’s medal haul through that day included Kim Sang-gyeom’s silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding on Feb. 8, Yoo Seung-eun’s bronze in women’s big air snowboarding on Feb. 10, Choi Ga-on’s gold in women’s halfpipe snowboarding on Feb. 13, Lim Jong-eon’s bronze in the men’s 1,000 meters short track on Feb. 13, and Hwang Dae-heon’s silver in the men’s 1,500 meters short track on Feb. 15.
Kim’s path to the podium was turbulent. In the quarterfinals, she placed second in her heat in 1:29.102, behind Felzebur, to reach the semifinals.
In the semifinal, Kim moved up from the back, passing Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States on the inside with three laps remaining and crossing the line second. She advanced to the final after officials reviewed the race and granted her an advance: With five laps left, Hanne Desmet of Belgium pushed her by hand, sending Kim down. Kim got up and finished, and Desmet was penalized.
The final was also tight. Starting from the fifth lane, Kim ran last among the five skaters until four laps remained. She then surged on the outside as Arianna Fontana of Italy dropped back, jumping to second, and took the lead on the inside with three laps to go.
With two laps left, Felzebur and Saro passed her in succession, dropping Kim to third. She tried to respond on the final lap but could not catch them and finished with bronze.
South Korea’s star Choi Min-jeong of Seongnam City Hall did not reach the final, finishing fourth in her semifinal. She placed third in the B final and ended eighth overall.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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