Olympic medal hopes dashed in short track; figure skater Cha Jun-hwan in 6th place after men's short program
Kim Gil-li of South Korea, top, is tripped up by Corinne Stoddard of the United States during the semifinals of the mixed team relay in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Feb. 10. Yonhap
MILAN — South Korea's hope for a medal on the first day of short track speed skating at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games was dashed by an unfortunate collision Tuesday, as the country was kept off the board after winning a medal on each of the past two days in northern Italy.
The first set of short track medals was awarded in the mixed team relay Tuesday at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, but South Korea couldn't get out of the semifinals and settled for an appearance in the consolation "B" final.
During the semifinals of this 18-lap, 2,000-meter race, Corinne Stoddard of the United States fell and took down South Korean skater Kim Gil-li with her -- costing both teams a chance to compete for a medal.
Kim sustained a cut on her right arm and was treated for bleeding, but team officials said she should be good to go in upcoming races.
Before the relay, Kim, Choi Min-jeong and Lee So-yeon all progressed to the quarterfinals of the women's 500m. On the men's side, Rim Jong-un, Shin Dong-min and Hwang Dae-heon made it out of the heats to also advance to the quarterfinals in the 1,000m.
Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea performs his short program in the men's singles figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Feb. 10. Yonhap
In figure skating Tuesday, Cha Jun-hwan put himself in sixth place with his season-best score of 92.72 points, 15.44 points back of the leader, Ilia Malinin of the United States.
Kim Hyun-gyeom finished 26th with 69.30 points and will miss out on the free skate, reserved for the top 24.
Elsewhere Tuesday, no South Korean was able to book a direct ticket to the final in the men's and women's freestyle skiing moguls at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, some 140 kilometers north of Milan.
In the first qualification round of the men's event, Jung Dae-yoon ranked 27th out of 30 athletes while teammate Lee Yoon-seung failed to finish his race. Only the top 10 skiers in this phase advanced to the final. The remaining 20 athletes will compete in the second qualification round Thursday, with the 10 best skiers earning their spots in the final set for later that same day.
In the women's moguls qualification, Yun Shin-e placed 21st out of 30 and was also relegated to the second qualification round set for Wednesday.