Published : Feb. 11, 2022 - 22:04
Choi Min-jeong of South Korea (right) finishes behind Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands in the women's 1,000m final in short track speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Friday. (Yonhap)
BEIJING -- South Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong grabbed silver in the women's 1,000m at Beijing 2022 on Friday, washing away disappointments from quick exits in earlier races with a strong bounce back performance.
Choi finished just behind Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing for South Korea's second short track medal in the Chinese capital. For the Olympics, South Korea has one gold, one silver and one bronze so far.
After barely avoiding collision with two other skaters, Schulting crossed the line in 1:28.391, and Choi did so in 1:28.443. Hanne Desmet of Belgium got the bronze in 1:28.928.
This is Choi's third career Olympic medal. She won gold medals in the 1,500m and the 3,000m relay at PyeongChang 2018.
Earlier in Beijing, Choi and her mixed relay team crashed out of the quarterfinals last Saturday, and Choi fell and got eliminated in the quarterfinals in the women's 500m on Monday.
In the five-skater final, Choi opened the race in the middle but dropped to fifth with seven laps left in the nine-lap race. She was still fourth with two laps left, behind Schulting, Arianna Fontana of Italy and Kristen Santos of the United States.
It was then Choi got to work on the outside. She skated past Santos and Fontana into second place, with the two latter skaters getting tangled up and crashing into the wall over the final stretch.
That gave Choi an opening, but her late push was not enough to catch Schulting, who successfully defended her title from four years ago.
Overcome with emotions, Choi was almost inconsolable after the race.
Later in the Olympics, she will have a chance to defend her 1,500m and 3,000m relay gold medals. (Yonhap)