Short tracker's decision to bury hatchet pays off with relay gold

Members of the Korean women's short track speed skating relay team celebrate their gold medal at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Wednesday. From left are Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li, Noh Do-hee, Shim Suk-hee and Lee So-yeon. Yonhap

MILAN — Having put aside their differences in pursuit of an Olympic medal together, short track speed skaters Choi Min-jeong and Shim Suk-hee combined for gold in the women's 3,000-meter relay at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Wednesday.

With Shim pushing Choi from behind for exchanges, Korea held off Italy and Canada for its first short track gold medal at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan.

Choi, 27, and Shim, 29, had their first Olympics together on home ice at PyeongChang 2018. But what happened during that event dealt their tight friendship a big blow.

In late 2021, it was belatedly revealed that Shin had fired off a series of expletive-laden text messages to a national team coach during PyeongChang. In those texts, which got leaked to the media, Shim denigrated her teammates and hinted she would intentionally trip up Choi if they ended up in the same race at the Olympics.

In the women's 1,000-meter final at PyeongChang 2018, the two indeed got tangled up when Choi tried to make a pass on the outside.

Shim was suspended from the national team for two months. Although she was cleared of race-fixing charges, Choi publicly announced she no longer wanted Shim to try to get in touch with her to apologize.

Shim eventually made her way back into the national team mix, and she and Choi became teammates again.

Early on, Choi refused to let Shim push her for exchanges in the 3,000m relay, which wasn't ideal for competitive purposes.

Shim is considered the strongest skater on the women's team with an excellent relay track record, while Choi is the best all-around skater who always finds another gear in crunch time. For Korea to get the most out of its women's relay team, it needed Shim to push Choi.

Ahead of the 2025-26 season, Choi decided to put aside her personal feelings and have Shim push her.

"I am a member of the national team, and giving my best in my role is the right thing to do," Choi once said of her decision.

Kim Gil-li of Korean women's short track speed skating relay team, third from left, competes in the finals of women's 3,000-meter relay in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Wednesday. Yonhap

It paid dividends right away, as Korea won the 3,000m relay title at the first International Skating Union World Tour event of the season in October.

Then in the relay semifinals here Saturday night, Shim helped Choi skate into the lead position with her hard push with 10 laps to go.

After Korea had fallen to second place with six laps remaining, Shim once again thrust Choi forward, giving her teammate enough momentum to regain the lead for the team. Korea went on to win its semifinal heat and book a ticket to the final.

In Wednesday's final, Shim thrust Choi from third to second with four laps left. It set the stage for Kim Gil-li's dramatic late pass that clinched the gold medal for Korea.

Their relationship still appears to be strictly professional. They stood apart from each other during the pre-race introduction. Immediately after the victory, Choi sought out Kim to celebrate, leaving Shim behind. On the podium during the medal ceremony, Choi and Shim stood at the opposite ends, flanking their teammates in the middle.

But both have said the right things when it comes to building and maintaining on-ice trust. They may no longer be the close friends that they once were, but on this night in northern Italy, Choi and Shim were able to join forces on the ice for the gold medal.