Milan, Italy, February 20, 2026: Kim Gil-li won her second gold medal of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Friday, February 20 as Korea collected three medals on the last day of short track speed skating.
Kim, 21, held off teammate Choi Min-jeong for gold in the women's 1,500 meters over 14 laps of the Milano Ice Skating Arena. Corinne Stoddard of the United States took the bronze.
Kim had earlier won gold in the 3,000m relay and bronze in the 1,000m.
Choi, 27, came up just shy of becoming the first short tracker ever to win three consecutive gold medals in the same individual race. However, Choi still became the most decorated Olympian for Korea by pushing her career medal totals to seven comprised of four gold and three silver medals. This was her final Winter Olympics.
"I always wanted to stand on the podium with Min-jeong," Kim told Yonhap News. "I still cannot believe I beat someone I've admired since I was a kid.
"I've learned so much from Min-jeong just by training next to her. I want to be as great as Min-jeong."
*Earlier in the evening, the quartet of Rim Jong-un, Lee Jeong-min, Lee June-seo and Hwang Dae-heon won the silver medal in the men's 5,000m relay, behind the Netherlands and ahead of Italy.
Hwang, the 1,500m silver medalist, and Rim, the 1,000m bronze medalist, each finished the competition here with two medals apiece.
With these three medals, Korea has three gold medals, four silver medals and three bronze medals, with two more days remaining until the closing ceremony on Sunday.
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee had set three gold medals as the target -- one more than the total from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.