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| Yonhap News |
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The first short track national team selection match ended with unexpected results for three consecutive days. The Korea Skating Union held the first national short track competition for the 2025-2026 season at Mokdong Indoor Ice Rink from the 7th to the 9th. In the 1,000-meter men's and women's 1,000-meter race held on Sunday, Kim Ki-li, who ranked first in the 500-meter race on Sunday, won the title with a time of 1:30.977 in the final race, winning two gold medals. Noh Do-hee (Hwaseong City Hall) came in second with a time of 1:31.080, followed by Shim Suk-hee (Seoul City Hall) in third with a time of 1:31.122.
An extraordinary incident broke out in the men's section. Park Ji-won (Seoul Metropolitan Government) and Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Government), who also drew attention for their collision in last year's selection match, raced together in the 1,000m semi-final, but they collided again and neither player completed. As a result of the video review, Hwang Dae-heon was disqualified by declaring the penalty code S1 (mainly changing the lane from out to in). Park Ji-won reached the semifinals with an advantage. Park Ji-won also finished the first round of selection in fourth place with an easy race in the final. There was even a sad injury. Jang Sung-woo, the gold medalist in the 1,000m at the Harbin Winter Asian Games, was injured when he fell during the semi-final Group 2 race and had to leave the ice rink on a stretcher immediately. In the 1,000-meter final, Kim Tae-sung (Hwaseong City Hall) took first place with a time of 1:24.791.
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| Photo = Lim Jong-un Capture SNS |
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As a result of the total number of ranking points in the men's category before the first round of selection, Lim Jong-eon (Roh Won-won), who made a surprise by ranking first in 1,500m on the first day, took the top spot. Lim ranked 17th in the 500m, 2nd in the 1,000m (1:24.895), and 1st in the 1,500m (2:25.599), earning 55 ranking points. Hwang Dae-heon, who was the No. 1 overall men's team until the 8th, finished third even after failing to qualify for the 1,000m semi-final. Park Ji-won also passed the first round of selection in eighth place.
For the women's team, the first place was for Kim Ki-li, who won two gold medals. Kim Ki-li earned 89 total points in ranking by ranking first in the 500m (44:268), first in the 1,000m (1:30.977), and second in the 1,500m (2:34.516). Noh Do-hee Choi Ji-hyun (Jeollabuk-do Office), Lee So-yeon (Sports Toto), and Shim Suk-hee were ranked from 2nd to 5th.
The men's and women's national teams will be determined by adding up the scores of the first round of selection and the second round of selection, which will continue from the 12th to the 13th. The players who passed the first round in the top 24 will advance to the second round. The top eight players in the men's team and the top seven players in the women's team will wear the national flag. Choi Min-jeong, who won the gold medal at the International Skating Union (IOC) World Championships in 2025, has qualified for the national team.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
