Short track, where the team had hoped for at least two gold medals, delivered 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. Snow events exceeded expectations with 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze after the team had targeted at least one medal.
South Korea improved on its 2022 Beijing results (2 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze; 14th) but did not crack the top 10. The team was led largely by teenagers and athletes in their early 20s.
In a breakthrough for Korean skiing and snowboarding, Choi Ga-on of Sehwa High School won the women’s snowboard halfpipe with 90.25 points, beating American Chloe Kim (88.00), who was seeking a third straight Olympic title. It was South Korea’s first gold medal of the Games and its first Olympic medal in a ski-snowboard event.
Choi, 17 years and 3 months old, also lowered the event’s youngest Olympic gold-medalist mark set by Kim at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games (17 years, 10 months).
Kim Sang-gyeom of High1 took silver in men’s snowboard alpine, and Yoo Seung-eun of Seongbok High School won bronze in women’s snowboard big air. It marked the first time South Korea’s ski and snowboard team won two or more medals at a single Olympics.
The short track team rebounded after a shaky start. In the mixed 2,000-meter relay semifinal — the first medal event for the team — Kim Gil-li of Seongnam City Hall fell after being tripped by American Corinne Stoddard, and South Korea missed the podium.
South Korea then turned momentum with a bronze by Lim Jong-eon of Goyang City Hall in the men’s 1,000 meters, a silver by Hwang Dae-heon of Gangwon Provincial Office in the men’s 1,500, and a bronze by Kim Gil-li in the women’s 1,000. The team later won gold in the women’s 3,000-meter relay after a dramatic comeback.
On the final day of short track, South Korea won silver in the men’s 5,000-meter relay, and Kim Gil-li and Choi Min-jeong took gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s 1,500.
Kim Gil-li, born in 2004, finished with two gold medals and one bronze, becoming the only South Korean athlete to win two golds at these Games.
Choi, who had won three golds and two silvers across the previous two Olympics, added one gold and one silver to bring her career total to seven Olympic medals. That set a South Korean record across the Summer and Winter Games, surpassing Jin Jong-oh (shooting), Kim Soo-nyung (archery) and Lee Seung-hoon (speed skating), who each had six. Choi also tied short track skater Jeon I-kyung’s national record of four Winter Olympic gold medals. After the race, Choi announced her retirement from the Olympics.
Speed skating, long a major medal source for South Korea after short track, ended the Games without a medal. In curling, the women’s team missed the semifinals by one spot, finishing fifth in the 10-team round-robin after losing to Canada in its final preliminary game.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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