All the short track speed skating in Korea survived! Lin Xiaojun, 'Korean naturalized' advances to the quarterfinals for the first time in the competition, Chun Woon → 1000m [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Hwang Dae-heon (27, Gangwon Provincial Government), Lim Jong-eon (19, Goyang City Hall) and Shin Dong-min (21, Korea University) of the Korean men's short track team passed the men's 1,000m preliminary round side by side, starting to hunt for medals. Lin Xiaojun (Chinese, Korean name Lim Hyo-jun), who returned to the Olympic stage after eight years, barely made it to the quarterfinals with his first advance at the tournament.

Lim Jong-eon competed in the men's 1,000m short track qualifying group 2 at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics at the Milan Ice Skating Arena on the 10th (Korea time) and succeeded in advancing to the quarterfinals by finishing second in the group with a time of 1:25.558.

Lim Jong-eon, who took the lead at the start of the race, led the flow by thoroughly defending the in-course. There was a strong chase in the middle with seven laps to go, but with a seasoned move, he remained in first place. He gave Luca Spekenhauser (Italy) the lead on the final lap, but kept his pace until the end and easily advanced to the next round.

Shin Dong-min, who played in Group 5, also finished second in the group, writing a reversal drama. Shin Dong-min, who remained in fourth place at the beginning of the game, quickly rose to second place with a superb in-course attack. Shin Dong-min, who took the lead with five laps to go, then succeeded in a comeback after a fierce battle with Moon Won-joon (Hungary) for second place and won a quarterfinal ticket.

Hwang Dae-heon of Group 6 stood out for his veteran game management. Hwang Dae-heon, who took the lead in the early stages, faced a crisis of being pushed to third place in the middle of the game, but with one lap left, he retook second place by showing a dramatic in-course overtaking. He passed the preliminary round with a final record of 1:24.133.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiaojun, who took the Olympic stage for the first time in eight years as a member of China's national team, had a tough comeback. Lin Xiaojun was on the verge of being eliminated as he crossed the finish line in 1:26.33 and third place in the group, colliding with his opponents one after another in the middle of the game.

However, as a result of the referee's video review, Anton Poshakov (Kazakhstan) was declared a foul, and the affected Lin Xiaojun barely joined the quarterfinals as he was judged to be the first advance of the tournament (giving him the right to the next round). Lin Xiaojun, who won the 1,500m gold medal for the Korean national team during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, will continue his Olympic medal challenge for the first time in eight years.

Meanwhile, ahead of the competition, sports media "Sports Illustrated" predicted the direction of the men's 1,000m event's medal and pointed out Korean short track "Shin Seong" Im Jong-eon as a strong gold medal candidate. The media then predicted that Liu Xiaoang (China) will win a silver medal and Pietro Siegel (Italy) will win a bronze medal.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.