Kim Gil-li of South Korea skates during the heats for the women's 500-meter short track speed skating race at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Kim Gil-li of South Korea skates during the heats for the women's 500-meter short track speed skating race at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

All six South Korean short track speed skaters in action progressed to the next phases in their respective individual races on Tuesday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

In the women's 500 meters, Kim Gil-li, Choi Min-jeong and Lee So-yeon made it out of Tuesday's heats and progressed to the quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday.

Eight groups of four skaters apiece entered the heats. Kim and Choi finished second in their respective groups to earn automatic berths. Lee So-yeon finished third in her group but still got through by posting one of the four fastest times among third-place skaters.

Later in the day in the men's 1,000m, Rim Jong-un, Shin Dong-min and Hwang Dae-heon all finished second in their groups to advance to the quarterfinals, also set for Thursday.

Lin Xiaojun, a South Korean-born Chinese skater who won a gold and a bronze as Lim Hyo-jun at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, also reached the quarterfinals.

This is the first day of short track races at these Olympic Games. The first set of medals will be awarded later Tuesday in the mixed team relay. (Yonhap)