"Short-track queen" Choi Min-jeong(28, Seongnam City Hall) set another milestone in Korea's Olympic history.
Choi Min-jeong on the 21st (Korean time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, in the 2026 Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics short-track women's 1500m final finished second behind Kim Gil-li and won the silver medal.
If Choi Min-jeong had won, a historic record of three consecutive individual event titles in short track could have been born. She was the defending champion who won the women's 1500m gold at the 2018 PyeongChang Games and the 2022 Beijing Games. To date, no skater, male or female, has achieved three consecutive wins in an individual short-track event.
However, the gold medalist was her junior national teammate 'Ramborghini' Kim Gil-li. Choi Min-jeong raced near the front but was overtaken in the final sprint and crossed the finish line second. After winning the silver, she embraced a teary Kim Gil-li, creating a warm moment.
Still, Choi Min-jeong made history that will long be remembered in Korean sports. By earning her seventh Olympic medal, she became the athlete with the most medals across the winter and summer Olympics combined.
Choi Min-jeong won two gold medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the women's 1500m and the women's 2000m relay, becoming a two-time champion. Four years later at the 2022 Beijing Games, she raced to gold in the women's 1500m and won silver medals in the women's 1000m and the women's 3000m relay.
And Choi Min-jeong added two more medals on Italian soil. After sharing the gold in the women's 3000m relay, she added a silver in the final race of the competition, the women's 1500m, bringing her total Olympic medals to seven (4 gold, 3 silver).
Before this competition, the record for most Olympic medals in Korean history was held by archer Kim Soo-nyung, shooter Jin Jong-oh, and speed skater Lee Seung-hoon (six each). Now Choi Min-jeong has built a monument of seven medals and risen to No. 1 in the most-medals category.
Meanwhile, with the women's 3000m relay gold, Choi Min-jeong tied Jeon I-gyeong (4 gold, 1 bronze) for the most Olympic gold medals won by a Korean winter Olympian.
From now on, every medal Choi Min-jeong wins on the Olympic stage becomes a new piece of history. If she adds one more gold, she would match the record of five golds held by Kim Woo-jin (archery).
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