The Korea Skating Union announced that Choi Min-jung (Seongnam City Hall) won the gold medal by finishing first in the women's 1500m at the 2025 ISU World Short Track Championships.
On the 16th (Korea time), Choi Min-jung, competing in the women's 1500m final at the 2025 ISU World Short Track Championships held in Beijing, China, crossed the finish line in 2 minutes 27.136 seconds, surpassing Canada's Courtney Sarault (2 minutes 27.194 seconds) to secure first place and a gold medal.
Choi Min-jung, who was seeking opportunities in the middle group during the race, surged ahead with explosive speed with four laps to go, taking the lead and maintaining it to cross the finish line, securing the gold medal.
Kim Gil-lee (Seongnam City Hall), who competed alongside Choi, seized the opportunity from the back and surged to third place amid a scramble among the middle group, winning a bronze medal and joining Choi on the podium.
With her gold medal in the individual event at this tournament, Choi Min-jung secured her place on the national team for the 2025/26 season according to the automatic selection criteria of the Korea Skating Union, confirming her participation in the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics.
In the men's 5000m relay final held on the same day, Park Ji-won (Seoul City Hall), Jang Seong-woo (Hwaseong City Hall), Kim Gun-woo (Sportstoto), and Lee Jeong-soo (Seoul City Hall) finished third with a time of 6 minutes 41.92 seconds to earn a bronze medal.
After the competition, Choi Min-jung stated through her management company, All That Sports, "I am very happy to win in the 1500m. Since I secured my Olympic berth through this tournament, I will prepare step by step as planned for the Olympics and show a good performance," adding, "I hope for your support and interest going forward."
Meanwhile, Choi Min-jung, who secured one gold medal at the tournament and finished as the top female athlete in the overall team standing, earned the automatic qualification for the national team for the upcoming season, which is awarded to one male and one female athlete with the highest overall ranking while winning at least one gold medal in individual events at the World Championships. Therefore, she will not participate in the national team selection for the 2025/26 season for the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics to be held in Mokdong in April.
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