On the first day of the medal race, the South Korean team secured 7 gold medals at the winter Asian Games held after 8 years.
The 9th Harbin Winter Asian Games had a grand opening ceremony on the 7th at the Harbin International Convention Exhibition Sports Center in China.
As the full-fledged medal race began on the 8th, South Korea swept up 7 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 7 bronze medals, placing 2nd overall behind the host country China (8 gold, 8 silver, 4 bronze).
The winter sports festival's 'beloved event', short track, showed its prowess from the very first day. On this day, the national anthem sounded four times in the multipurpose hall of the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center in Harbin, China.
In the first event of the medal matches, the mixed 2000m relay final, the first gold medal for the South Korean team in this tournament was achieved, and Kim Gil-ri (Seongnam City Hall) in the women's 1500m, Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall) in the men's 1500m, and Choi Min-jeong (Seongnam City Hall) continued the 'golden rush' in the women's 500m.
South Korea became the inaugural champion of the mixed relay, reinforcing its position as the 'powerhouse of short track', and in the key events of men's and women's 1500m, the representatives delivered performances worthy of their reputation. In the men's 1500m, Jang Seong-woo (Hwaseong City Hall) also won a bronze medal.
In the women's 500m, which has been considered a vulnerable event, the first gold medal in the history of the winter Asian Games came in, lighting a green light for achieving the goal of '6 or more gold medals'.
In particular, in the women's 500m, Choi Min-jeong led Kim Gil-ri and Lee So-yeon (Sports Toto) to bring home silver and bronze medals respectively, filling the podium solely with the Taegeukgi.
In the men's 500m, Park Ji-won and Jang Seong-woo won silver and bronze medals respectively. This event was won by Lin Xiao-jun (Korean name: Lim Hyo-jun), who had previously competed for South Korea but naturalized to China following an unfortunate incident in 2019. Lin Xiao-jun, who fell alone at the end of the mixed 2000m relay final, redeemed himself with a gold medal in the 500m.
News of the 'golden rush' also came from the Heilongjiang Ice Training Center Oval where speed skating was held. The host country China aimed for an advantage by introducing the 100m event for the first time, where Lee Chae-woon (Korea National Sport University) outperformed the short distance star Kim Min-sun (Uijeongbu City Hall) to claim the top spot in the women's category.
Kim Min-sun, who was preparing for the key 500m event, warmed up with a silver medal, while Kim Jun-ho (Gangwon Province Office) took home a bronze medal in the men's 100m. Two gold medals were also won at the Yabuli Ski Resort where the snow events were held.
Lee Chae-woon (Suri High School), participating in the men's snowboard slope style, secured a gold medal by scoring 90 points in the finals, surpassing Liu Haoyu (China, 76 points).
Lee Chae-woon, who decorated the first medal in Korean snowboarding history with a gold at the 2023 International Ski Federation (FIS) World Championships in the men's snowboard halfpipe, also delivered a 'golden performance' in his first Asian Games competition. Lee is set to aim for a second title as he will compete in his main event, the halfpipe, on the 12th-13th.
Kang Dong-hoon (Gorim High School) celebrated a bronze medal (74 points) on this day in slope style, finishing behind Lee Chae-woon and Liu Haoyu.
Lee Seung-hoon (Korea National Sport University) won the freestyle skiing halfpipe final with a high score of 97.5 points, bringing South Korea its first Asian Games gold medal in freestyle skiing.
South Korea also added bronze medals in the ski halfpipe with Moon Hee-sung (Seorak High School, 88.5 points) and Jang Yu-jin (Korea University, 85 points) in their respective categories.
In addition, in the women's Alpine skiing slalom, Kim So-hee (Seoul City Hall) recorded a total time of 1 minute 34 seconds 06 in the combined first and second runs, winning a silver medal after Maeda Chisaki (Japan, 1 minute 33 seconds 50).
In the mixed doubles curling event, Kim Kyung-ae (Gangneung City Hall) and Seong Ji-hoon (Gangwon Province Office) finished as runners-up after a close match, losing 5-6 to Japan in the final.
In the cross-country sprint event, the men's competitors Lee Geon-yong, Byeon Ji-young (both Gyeonggi Province Office), Lee Jin-bok, Lee Jun-seo (both Dankook University), and the women's competitors Lee Eui-jin (Busan City Sports Council), Lee Ji-ye (Pyeongchang County Office), Han Da-som (Gyeonggi Province Office) participated, but none advanced past the preliminary rounds.
The men's ice hockey team continued their four-game winning streak in the group stage, crushing Thailand 10-0 in the fourth match of Group A held at the Harbin Ice Hockey Arena.
The women's team also achieved a three-match winning streak by defeating Taiwan 3-2 in the third qualifying match held at the Harbin Physical Education University student ice rink.