Lim Jong Eon (Goyang City Hall), Hwang Dae Heon (Gangwon Provincial Government) and Shin Dong Min (Korea University) all advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s 1,000 meters in short track at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Competing on Monday (Korea time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Italy, all three finished second in their preliminary heats to move on.
Lim, the youngest of the trio, raced first in Heat 2. Italy’s Luca Speckenhauser won in 1:25.422, with Lim second in 1:25.558. Lim led early and held off challenges, but Speckenhauser surged past on the final lap.
Shin skated in Heat 5 and finished second behind Canada’s William Dandjinou. Shin moved up from the back, driving down the inside with six laps left to pass Hungary’s Moon Won Jun, a South Korea-born naturalized skater, for the lead. With four laps remaining, Dandjinou took over, and Moon also got by. Shin reclaimed second by passing Moon on the inside on the final lap, finishing in 1:24.870.
Hwang competed last among the three in Heat 6, advancing with a second-place time of 1:24.133. He ran third early, then passed Teunbuur of the Netherlands on the inside on the final lap and held the position to the finish behind Canada’s Felix Roussel.
China’s Lin Shaojun, who won men’s 1,500 gold wearing South Korea’s uniform at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, placed third in Heat 7 but advanced after Russia-born Ivan Posashikov, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, was penalized.
The men’s 1,000 quarterfinals, semifinals and final are scheduled for Feb. 13.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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