Dordrecht: South Korea has ended the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour season with two gold medals and two bronze medals at the circuit's final stop in the Netherlands. Kim Gil-li took gold and Choi Min-jeong grabbed bronze in the women's 1,500 meters at the Optisport Sportboulevard in the Dutch city of Dordrecht on Sunday (local time).
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim finished the race in 2:26.306, while Cho ended hers in 2:26.568, as the two South Koreans sandwiched Courtney Sarault of Canada (2:26.443). Kim stayed in the back of the pack for most of the race and remained in last place among the four remaining finalists after three skaters got tangled up and crashed into the wall. Kim then made her patented late burst on the inside corner and claimed her second straight 1,500m World Tour gold medal -- following her victory in Poland the previous week.
The only other South Korean champion on this day came from the men's 1,000m, where Rim Jong-un (1:25.877) held off Liu Shaoang of China (1:26.023) and Pietro Sighel of Italy (1:26.094). Rim started the race in the lead but skated in third place behind Sighel and Liu in the middle laps, setting up his late takeover of the top spot over the final corner.
Also on Sunday, the mixed 2,000m relay team of Choi, Kim, Rim and Hwang Dae-heon earned bronze with a time of 2:38.038, behind the Netherlands (2:37.430) and the United States (2:37.947). South Korea missed out on a medal in the women's 500m, with Choi finishing last among the five finalists.
South Korea finished the ISU World Tour season with just one medal in the women's 500m -- Choi's bronze in Poland last week. Countries will receive quota places for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy based on results in World Tour events, and South Korea will not likely earn a maximum three quota spots in the women's 500m.
The three best results out of four in each distance at the four World Tour competitions will be considered for Olympic quota places. 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 5,000m relay and women's 3,000m relay will each offer eight quota places, and the mixed 2,000m 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.
At the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, South Korea missed out on a quota place in the men's 500m and the men's 1,000m. South Korea was represented fully in every event as the host country of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics but then only had two skaters each in the men's and women's 500m at the 2022 competition in Beijing. South Korea failed to win a medal in the men's 500m on the ISU World Tour this season and will likely fall short of three quota places there.
The ISU is scheduled to finalize the Olympic quotas and inform each nation of those results on Dec. 12.