Dordrecht: South Korea did not achieve any podium finishes on the first day of medal races at the final International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour event of the season in the Netherlands.

According to Yonhap News Agency, countries are competing for quota places at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics based on results from four World Tour competitions this season. South Korea is unlikely to secure the maximum three spots in the men's 500 meters after failing to win any medal in this category during the World Tour.

Rim Jong-un and Hwang Dae-heon were eliminated in the quarterfinals at the Optisport Sportboulevard in Dordrecht, while Shin Dong-min was knocked out during the repechage phase. Olympic quota places will be allocated based on the three best results out of four in each distance at the four ISU World Tour competitions.

For both men and women, there are 32 quota places in the 500m and 1,000m events, 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 of three quota places per individual event and one quota place per relay event. Teams can register three men and three women for individual races and four men and four women for the relays. For the mixed relay, countries with 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 1,000m. The country was fully represented in every event as the host of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics but had only two skaters each in the men's and women's 500m at the 2022 competition in Beijing.

The women's 500m final in Dordrecht is scheduled for Sunday, with South Korea aiming to earn its second medal of the World Tour following Choi Min-jeong's bronze in Gdansk, Poland, a week ago. Choi and Kim Gil-li have advanced to the quarterfinals in Dordrecht.

In races other than the men's and women's 500m, South Korea will likely earn maximum quota places, although it failed to add to its medal tally on Saturday. In the men's 1,500m, Rim and Lee Jeong-min did not progress past the semifinals, while Shin, the only South Korean in the final, finished sixth.

Choi and Kim were unable to progress beyond the semifinals in the women's 1,000m. Their women's 3,000m relay team, which also included Shim Suk-hee and Noh Do-hee, finished fourth behind the Netherlands, Italy, and the United States in the final.