South Korea’s Gu Gyeong-min fell short of a medal in the men’s 1,000 meters in speed skating at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics.
Gu finished in 1 minute, 8.53 seconds in the fourth pairing at the Milan Speed Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday (Korea time). Skating alongside Norway’s Bjorn Magnussen, Gu opened with a strong first lap of 41.12 seconds and briefly led the overall standings after his race.
His time was soon surpassed by skaters in the fifth pairing, dropping him to third. He later fell out of medal position after the Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis posted a dominant 1:07-range time in the ninth pairing.
Kim Min-seok, who competes for Hungary after changing nationality, raced in the sixth pairing and finished in 1:08.59, slower than Gu.
Kim won Olympic medals for South Korea at the 2018 Pyeongchang and 2022 Beijing Games. After a 2022 drunk-driving incident left him unable to compete as a national team athlete, he became a Hungarian citizen in 2024.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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