Korea’s ‘short track queen’ Choi races to silver

Beijing, China, February 11, 2022: Korea’s “Queen of Short Track” Choi Min-jeong used her trademark outside swoop to race to a silver medal in the women’s 1,000 metres final at the Capital Indoor Arena on Friday night.

After a slow start, when she was fourth coming out of the first corner, Choi burst into life with two laps to go and surged around the outside to move second behind the Netherlands’ World and Olympic record holder Suzanne Schulting, the defending champion.

At this point, two of the five competitors slid into the wall – Italy’s 10-time Olympic medallist Arianna Fontana and the United States’ Kristen Santos. This left the way clear for Choi to attack Schulting – but her late charge fell just short.

Schulting, who had set a new world record of 1:26.514 in the first quarter-final of the night, won gold in 1:28.391. The 23-year-old Korean was second in 1:28.443 and Belgium’s Hanne Desmet took bronze in 1:28.928. Santos was clocked at 1:42.745 in fourth, while Fontana was given a penalty.

Choi had suffered major disappointments in her earlier races this week and was visibly furious with herself after sliding out of the women’s 500m quarter-finals. She found redemption in the 1,000 metres – and was sobbing heavily at the end of the race before being handed a Korean flag. 

"I had to stick to my strengths in critical situations," Choi explained to Yonhap News after the final. "I trusted in my abilities. I wasn't thinking about how difficult the final would be."

The silver medal took her Olympic Games tally to three, after winning two gold medals at PyeongChang 2018 – women’s 1,500m and women’s 3,000m relay.

Choi had faced a real battle to even reach the final. She finished second in her quarter-final behind the powerful Santos and then came third in the semi-final when only the top two were guaranteed a place in the final. Choi won her place in the final by recording the fastest time of the two skaters who finished third in the semi-finals.

In the first quarter-final, Dutch flyer Schulting set a new world record of 1:26.514, beating the previous mark of 1:26.661 set by Shim Suk-hee of Korea in 2012. There was disappointment for the home fans as all three Chinese athletes were eliminated in the quarter-finals: Han Yutong, Qu Chunyu and Zhang Chutong.

Men’s 500 metres

There was a major surprise for the Korean fans when Lee June-seo fell in the first of eight heats and recorded no time. Lee later received a penalty.

The Kazakhstan trio of Adil Galiakhmetov, Denis Nikisha and Abzal Azhgaliyev all qualified for the quarter-finals. They were in good company, along with Korea’s Hwang Dae-heon, winner of the men’s 1,500m gold in Beijing, and the Chinese pair of Wu Dajing, the defending Olympic champion, and Ren Ziwei, who already has two gold medals in this Olympic Games.

 Photos: Yonhap News