Short track 'Azini' crash →韓하게 is the only one that avoided it! Going to the semi-finals of the mixed relay... China-Canada also survives [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

South Korea's short track team safely settled on the semifinal stage after breaking through a difficult battle in the mixed relay at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics.

The national team, which collaborated with Choi Min-jeong, Kim Ki-li (Sungnam City Hall), Shin Dong-min (Korea University), and Lim Jong-eon (Uijeong City Hall), advanced to the semifinals with a time of 2:39.35 in the 2000m quarterfinal of the short track mixed relay held at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Italy on the 10th (Korea time).

South Korea had a stable race from the beginning of the game. Kim Ki-li, the first runner, quickly climbed to the top of the second place and closely chased the leading U.S. Choi Min-jeong and Shin Dong-min continued their battle for the lead by maintaining a gap with the U.S. in the process of taking over the baton in turn, and Im Jong-eon also firmly maintained the second place and touched Kim Ki-li again.

The final destination was six laps to go. A major accident occurred in which the leading U.S. slipped and fell during the shift. Korea, which followed, skillfully avoided accidents and rose to first place. Follow-up groups, France and Japan, were caught in a series of collisions on the next lap and rolled around on the ice.

With all the competitors out of the race, South Korea has solidified its dominance. The national team, which played the rest of the laps leisurely, crossed the finish line with a time of 2:39.35. After finishing the race late in the aftermath of the accident, the U.S. finished in 2:43.91.

Meanwhile, in Group 1 of the quarterfinals held earlier, the Netherlands and host Italy, the leading contenders for the tournament, advanced to the semifinals in first and second place, respectively. In particular, the Netherlands showed an overwhelming performance that never gave up the lead throughout the 18th lap. In the end, Japan was disqualified for a penalty, and France joined the semifinals as an advance.

In Group 3 of the quarterfinals, mixed relay teams Canada and China confirmed their advance to the semifinals. China took the lead with the last two laps to go. However, on the final lap, Canada regained the top spot and made it to the semifinals, the first goal.

South Korea, which has set a goal of two or more gold medals in the traditional short track speed skating, is determined to gain a head start in the early stages of the competition by winning the mixed relay. South Korea has a painful memory of falling in the quarterfinals and failing to win a medal at the 2022 Beijing Games, when the mixed relay was first adopted. In this competition, he aims to recover his fame for the first time in four years.

The mixed relay, in which a total of 12 teams participate, will be divided into three groups of four teams to qualify. The top two teams in each group and two teams with good performance among the third-place teams will win tickets to the semifinals.

Earlier, sports media "Sports Illustrated" predicted that the Netherlands would win the gold medal in the mixed 2000m relay, while South Korea would win silver and Canada would win bronze.

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*This content was translated by AI.