South Korea's women reclaim Olympic gold in short track 3,000m relay

by · UPI

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- With two laps to go, South Korea's Kim Gilli cut inside Italy's Arianna Fontana to seize the lead and anchor her team to an Olympic gold Wednesday in the women's short track 3,000-meter relay.

The gold medal is the seventh won by South Korean women in the 3,000-meter relay since the event debuted in 1992, reinforcing their status as a speed-skating powerhouse after taking silver behind the Netherlands in 2022.

Gilli and her teammates Choi Minjeong, Shim Sukhee and Noh Dohee completed the 27 laps of the rink in Milano, Italy, at a blistering 4:04.014, a fraction faster than Italy's 4:04.107.

Canada won the bronze medal with a time of 4:04.314.

Related

With 16 laps to go and Canada leading, the defending champions, the Netherlands, crashed and fell out of contention, opening up the lanes slightly with only three nations left competing.

Canada held on to the lead for most of the remainder of the race with Italy not far behind and South Korea in third, until the 21st lap when the Canadian skater wobbled, letting Italy and South Korea jump into first and second.

Then with the finish approaching, Kim made her move.

It is Kim's second medal of these Olympics, after winning the bronze in the women's 1,000-meter short track last weekend.

For Italy's Fontana, it was her third, winning a silver medal in the women's 500-meter short track and a gold in the mixed team relay.

It's also the 35-year-old's 14th medal over the last six Winter Olympics.

"Even though it's my 14th, winning it like this today is really incredible," Fontana told reporters after the race.

"This was a team effort. Every single one of us. No one left out. We put pressure when it was time to put pressure, and we're taking home a silver medal that I truly think is a dream come true for all of us."

Women's Olympic figure skating kicks off first of two programs

Alysa Liu of the United States performs during the women's short program at the Milano Figure Skating Stadium in Milan, Italy, on February 17, 2026. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo