Kim finished the men's 500 meters at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 34.68 seconds at the Milan Speed Skating Stadium on Saturday (Korea time), placing 12th among 29 skaters.
He has had near misses in each of his previous Olympic starts. He placed 21st at the 2014 Sochi Games, and was 12th at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games after his skate blade caught in the ice just after the start.
The 2022 Beijing Games were his closest call. Kim was sixth in 34.54, just 0.04 seconds behind Wataru Morishige of Japan, who won bronze.
Kim entered these Olympics with momentum after winning one gold and two bronze medals on the International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup circuit, but he could not carry that form into the 500.
In an earlier pairing, Gu Gyeong-min (Sports Toto) finished 15th in 34.80.
American Jordan Stolz won gold in an Olympic-record 33.77, giving him his second title of the Games after the 1,000 meters.
Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands took silver in 33.88, and Canada's Laurent Dubreuil won bronze in 34.26.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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