South Korea short-track speed skater Kim Gil Li (Seongnam City Hall), who was hurt in a collision during a race, said the injury will not affect her ability to compete.
Kim trained Tuesday (Korean time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena, the short-track venue for the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics. Speaking to reporters afterward, she said medical tests the day before found nothing wrong. “I took medicine and I’m fine,” she said.
She said she feared her arm might have been broken because the impact was hard. “There was pain for a moment, but it went away, and it won’t affect me competing going forward,” she said.
Kim fell Monday in the mixed 2,000-meter relay semifinals after colliding with U.S. skater Corinne Stoddard. Kim said she was trying to pass while accelerating when Stoddard fell coming out of a corner. “My speed was too fast, so I couldn’t avoid it in time,” she said. She added that short track has many variables and that such incidents can happen, saying she has experienced it several times in her career.
Kim also said she was upset after an appeal was not accepted. “I went inside and cried a lot, but the coaches and the older teammates comforted me, and that helped a lot,” she said.
South Korea’s mixed relay ended in the semifinals, but Kim said she is preparing for the women’s 500 meters on Feb. 12 with a medal as her goal. “The start-lane draw isn’t favorable, but I’ll solve things one by one and move up,” she said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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