South Korea’s Lim Jong-eon, a 19-year-old considered a rising star on the men’s short track team, won his first Olympic medal with a late surge to take bronze in the men’s 1,000 meters.
Lim finished in 1 minute, 24.611 seconds in the final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Italy. He was the only South Korean skater to reach the final, racing against Jens van ’t Wout of the Netherlands, Sun Long of China and William Dandjinou of Canada.
Lim stayed in the top three early but was pushed to last in the five-man field as the pace increased. He waited for an opening, and the decisive move came on the final lap.
Using his trademark outside line, Lim swung wide and accelerated. He passed Roberts Kruzebergs of Latvia in the first corner, then edged past Dandjinou in the final turn to finish third. Van ’t Wout won gold and Sun took silver.
Lim delivered South Korea’s first short track medal of these Games and became the team’s fourth medalist overall, following snowboarders Choi Ga-on, Kim Sang-gyeom and Yoo Seung-eun.
In the same event, Shin Dong-min placed fifth in his semifinal heat and finished third in the B final. Hwang Dae-heon, a medal contender, was disqualified after receiving a penalty in his quarterfinal heat.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.