"U.S. twisted → Korea high school for South Korea's collision that followed" eliminated from the 2000m mixed relay semifinals... China is going to the finals [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Will there be another bad luck like this. The South Korean short track team, which was considered the favorite to win, failed to advance to the mixed relay final after being caught up in an unexpected crash.

The South Korean national team, consisting of Choi Min-jeong, Kim Ki-li (Sungnam City Hall), Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Province Office), and Lim Jong-eon (Uijeong Government Office), was pushed to the Final B (ranking match) on the 10th (Korea time), finishing third in the group in the 2000m short track relay at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics held at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Italy.

South Korea, which operated the best member, carefully solved the race at the beginning of the game. First runner Choi Min-jeong started in third place, close to the lead, and Kim Ki-li, who took over, once rose to second place and gained momentum. Since then, Hwang Dae-heon and Lim Jong-eon have taken turns exhausted the ice to see the opportunity, and again, Kim Ki-li changed the order with Choi Min-jeong to become a runner.

However, an unexpected variable occurred. The U.S. player who was running earlier lost his balance and fell, and Kim Ki-li, who was immediately following him, tangled with the player who fell and bent over the ice together. It was South Korea, which expertly overcame the mixed situation during the quarterfinals and ranked first in the group, but this time there was no way to avoid the accident in front of its eyes.

South Korea resumed the race immediately, but it was not enough to close the gap that had already widened. In the meantime, Canada crossed the finish line in first place and Belgium in second place. The Korean coaching staff filed an official complaint with the umpires after the game, seeking to overturn the decision. The result remained unchanged and was confirmed as the third place in the group.

Meanwhile, in the other group, host Italy and China won the final ticket. The Netherlands, a strong favorite, lost second place to China by making a mistake of falling alone with six laps to go, and headed to the Final B with France.

South Korea, which failed to go to the finals due to bad luck in the collision, will determine the final ranking of the event in Final B.

It is even more regrettable because the previous performance was good. South Korea's Choi Min-jeong, Kim Ki-li, Shin Dong-min (Korea University), and Lim Jong-eon worked together in the quarterfinal Group 2 match. At the beginning of the game, Kim Ki-li maintained the lead and started the race stably, and in the subsequent shift process, he competed fiercely with the United States for the lead. With six laps to go, Korea calmly crossed the finish line by establishing a solo system to avoid the accident despite the major negative factors such as the U.S. dropout accident and the series of clashes between France and Japan.

With two or more gold medals in short track speed skating, South Korea was determined to gain a clear lead in the early stages of the competition through this mixed relay. South Korea, which suffered from a quarterfinal elimination at the 2022 Beijing Games, when the mixed relay was first introduced, was determined to restore its honor on the Milan stage.

However, South Korea, which was caught up in an unexpected accident, swallowed the disappointment of failing to advance to the finals.

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

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*This content was translated by AI.