The team of Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li (both of Seongnam City Hall), Noh Do-hee (Hwaseong City Hall) and Shim Suk-hee (Seoul City Hall) finished first Thursday (Korea time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in 4:04.014.
Host Italy took silver in 4:04.107, and Canada won bronze in 4:04.314.
It was South Korea’s first gold medal in short track at these Games. Earlier, Lim Jong-eon won bronze in the men’s 1,000 meters, Hwang Dae-heon took silver in the men’s 1,500, and Kim won bronze in the women’s 1,000.
The victory was South Korea’s second gold of the Olympics, following Choi Ga-on’s win in the women’s snowboard halfpipe on Feb. 13. South Korea’s overall medal total rose to seven (2 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze).
Choi Min-jeong, now a three-time Olympic gold medalist, increased her career Olympic haul to six medals (4 gold, 2 silver). The totals tied the South Korean records for most Olympic gold medals (four) and most Olympic medals across the Summer and Winter Games (six).
The women’s 3,000-meter relay has long been one of South Korea’s strongest Winter Olympic events. Since it became an Olympic medal event at the 1992 Albertville Games, South Korea has won seven gold medals in 10 Olympics.
South Korea first won relay gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and then captured four straight titles through Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 2006. The team was disqualified in the 2010 Vancouver final, but returned to win back-to-back gold in Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018.
After taking silver behind the Netherlands at the 2022 Beijing Games, South Korea regained the top spot in Milan.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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