South Korea’s top women’s sprint speedskater, Kim Min-seon (Uijeongbu City Hall), and rising prospect Lee Na-hyeon (Korea National Sport University) came up short in their signature 500 meters at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Kim finished 14th with 38.01 on Feb. 16 (Korea time) at the Milan speedskating stadium in Italy. Lee placed 10th in 37.86.
It was Kim’s third Olympic appearance after placing 16th at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and seventh at the 2022 Beijing Games. She had shown world-class form, including finishing No. 1 in the 2022-23 World Cup rankings and winning two titles at the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games, but did not reach the Olympic podium.
Starting on the inside in the 10th pair, Kim passed 100 meters in 10.61 but could not generate her usual speed on the backstretch in the outside lane and crossed in the 38-second range.
In her Olympic debut, Lee broke into the top 10. Skating from the inside in the 13th pair, she covered the first 100 meters in 10.47 and held her pace through the finish for 37.86.
Femke Kok of the Netherlands won gold in an Olympic-record 36.49. Dutch teammate Jutta Leerdam took silver in 37.15, and Miho Takagi of Japan won bronze in 37.27.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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