Montreal: Teenage phenom Rim Jong-un has captured his first career title on the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Tour circuit, getting off to a strong start in his pursuit of quota places for the upcoming Winter Olympics. Rim won the men's 1,500-meter title in the first leg of the World Tour at Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal on Saturday (local time) with a time of 2:16.141. Rim's South Korean teammate Hwang Dae-heon got the silver medal in 2:16.593, and Sun Long of China finished third in 2:16.808.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Rim, who turns 18 on Oct. 30, was the surprise winner of the national team trials in April this year, earning a spot on the senior squad for the first time. South Korea also struck gold in the women's 3,000m relay with a time of 4:07.318, with the quartet of Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li, Shim Suk-hee, and Noh Do-hee just edging out the Netherlands (4:07.350). Kim grabbed silver in the women's 1,000m with a time of 1:28.250, while Courtney Sarault of Canada finished first in 1:28.185.
The competition will wrap up Sunday with the finals in the mixed 2,000m relay, the men's 5,000m relay, the women's 500m and 1,500m, and the men's 1,000m. Quota places for the nine short track events at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games will be determined based on the results at the four World Tour competitions. The three best results out of four ISU World Tour stops will be considered for Olympic quota places in the following races: 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.
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 of 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 Olympic relay events, the eight highest-ranked teams will qualify, but if the host country Italy doesn't make the top eight, then it will replace the team that finishes eighth. 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 failed to earn the maximum quota spots at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where it sent just two skaters to the men's 500m and the men's 1,000m, and at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where South Korea had two skaters each in the men's and the women's 500m.
South Korea leads the all-time Olympic short track medal table with 26 gold medals and 53 medals overall.