Korea short track completely ignored! S. Korea No Gold-Japan 2 Competition Expected

*This content was translated by AI.

Famous U.S. sports media predicted South Korea's no-gold at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics.

The Athletic, a U.S. media outlet, cited 26 notable overseas stars at the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will compete with U.S. athletes for gold medals in each event on the 3rd (Korea time).

The Winter Olympics, which will begin two days later, will feature about 3,000 athletes in 116 events. Short track speed skating was one of the events that the United States, one of the powerhouses of the Winter Olympics, is aiming for the gold medal.

However, Korean short track speed skating has not even been mentioned as a competitor. Both men and women were mentioned as Canadian players. The men's short track speed skating was William Dandanu (25). Dan Dan Dan-nu is a Canadian representative who won gold medals at the 2025 World Championships, including the men's 1500m individual, 5000m relay, and the 2000m mixed relay.

On the women's side, Canadian ace Courtney Saro, who won the world tour in the 500m, 1000m and 1,500m events, was selected as the likely candidate for the gold medal. Choi Min-jeong and Kim Ki-li are also the biggest competitors.

It is a different atmosphere from the fact that Asian media are still wary of Korean short track. South Korea's short track speed skating is a powerhouse that has won 53 medals, including 26 gold medals, at all-time Winter Olympics.

In this competition, Im Jong-eon, Hwang Dae-heon, Shin Dong-min, Lee Jung-min and Lee Jun-seo will compete in the men's team, Choi Min-jeong and Kim Ki-li, Noh Do-hee, Lee So-yeon and Shim Suk-hee to aim for medals.

In particular, it is shocking that Choi Min-jeong, who is trying to win the first three consecutive wins in history, was not considered either a candidate or a competitor. Choi Min-jeong won gold medals in the women's 1500m in Pyeongchang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022.

In addition, Hwang Dae-heon's men's 1,500m relay and the women's 3,000m relay and men's 5,000m relay, which won silver medals side by side in the last competition, dream of reclaiming the top spot for the first time in eight and 20 years, respectively.

Short track was not the only thing that was ignored. There was no Korean athlete's name in 26 events. In contrast, there were two Japanese players. In Japan, figure skating's Yuma Kagiyama and speed skating's Miho Takagi were selected as candidates to threaten the U.S. gold medal.

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*This content was translated by AI.