S. Koreans enjoy solid starts at final Short Track World Tour stop in Netherlands
Shin Dong-min of South Korea, left, competes in the preliminaries for the men's 500 meters at the International Skating Union Short Track World Tour event at the Optisport Sportboulevard in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, Nov. 27. EPA-Yonhap
South Koreas are off to solid starts at the fourth and final International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour event of the season in the Netherlands, as they try to secure spots at the upcoming Winter Olympics.
All three South Korean men advanced to the semifinals in the 1,500 meters at the Optisport Sportboulevard in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, on Thursday (local time).
Rim Jong-un finished first in Heat 3, while Shin Dong-min ranked second in Heat 1 and Lee Jeong-min ended third in Heat 6.
In the 500m, Rim and Hwang Dae-heon both skated through the preliminaries and the heats to reach the quarterfinals.
In the women's 1,000m, three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong fell to the repechage phase after finishing third in Heat 6.
She finished first overall in the repechage quarterfinals and will skate in the repechage semifinals Saturday.
Two other South Koreans in the 1,000m, Kim Gil-li and Noh Do-hee, both advanced to the quarterfinals without needing repechage.
Also on Thursday, South Korea qualified for the semifinals in the women's 3,000m relay, featuring Noh, Seo Whi-min, Lee So-yeon and Shim Suk-hee, and also in the mixed 2,000m relay, with Noh, Rim, Lee So-yeon and Lee Jeong-min taking the ice.
Quota places for the nine short track events at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games will be allocated based on the three best results out of four in each distance at the four ISU World Tour competitions.
The nine Olympic races are: 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.
For both men and women, 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.