Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong wins 2 silver medals at Short Track World Tour
Choi Min-jeong of South Korea, left, poses with the other medalists after winning silver in the women's 1,000 meters at the International Skating Union World Tour event at Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal, Oct. 18, in this Canadian Press photo via Associated Press. Choi stands next to Courtney Sarault of Canada, center, the gold medalist, and Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands, the bronze medalist. Yonhap
Three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong grabbed two silver medals at the latest stop on the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour in Canada.
Choi finished second to Courtney Sarault of Canada in the women's 1,000-meter final at Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal on Saturday (local time), with a time of 1:28.165. The Canadian skater finished first in 1:27.896.
Choi moved out from the back of the pack and positioned herself in second place behind Sarault with five laps remaining, but couldn't quite catch the Canadian at the line.
Sarault also beat Choi with the skaters anchoring their respective teams in the women's 3,000m relay, as Canada (4:07.341) took gold over South Korea (4:07.517).
A fall by a Dutch skater with eight laps remaining turned this into a two-team battle between Canada and South Korea for the gold. Kim Gil-li pushed South Korea to first place with six laps remaining and Shim Suk-hee kept the team in front.
However, Choi allowed Sarault to pass her with two laps left and couldn't regain her lead down the stretch.
South Korea was shut out of medals in the men's races on Saturday, with no finalist in the 500m, 1,500m and 5,000m relay.
South Korea will shoot for medals in the men's 1,000m, women's 500m and 1,500m, and the mixed 2,000m relay on Sunday.
This is the second of four ISU World Tour events scheduled for this fall. Results at these races will determine quota places for the following races at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics: the men's and women's 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m; the men's 5,000m relay; the women's 3,000m relay; and the mixed 2,000m relay.
There are 32 quota places up for grabs in the 500m and 1,000m, and 36 quota places for the 1,500m. The men's and women's relays will offer eight quota places, and the mixed relay event will have 12 quota places.
Each country can earn a maximum three quota places per individual event and one quota place per relay event. Teams can each register three men and three women for individual races, and four men and four women for the relays.
For the mixed relay, countries that have at least two male and two female skaters already qualified in individual races will be given priority.
South Korea leads the all-time Olympic short track medal table with 26 gold medals and 53 medals overall.