Milan: On a day when she was chasing a piece of South Korean Olympic history, very little went right for short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong. Choi couldn't get out of the semifinals in the women's 1,000 meters at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on Monday. With only the top two skaters earning automatic berths in the final, Choi finished fourth in her group. Courtney Sarault of Canada and Arianna Fontana of Italy advanced to the final from that stacked group, with Sarault eventually winning silver.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Choi was relegated to the consolation Final B, where she ended up in third place. Choi remains without a medal in Milan after the mixed team relay, women's 500m and now 1,000m. She will have two more opportunities, in the 1,500m and the 3,000m relay, to grab her sixth career medal and tie the South Korean record for most Olympic medals, winter or summer.

"I made some poor strategic choices," Choi said. "The starting position has also become important in the 1,000m. Because I was in the back at the start, I think I rushed too much early on. Then my skate blade made contact with someone else's. So much went wrong today."

She said she will try her best to stay focused on her remaining events. "I am disappointed, but I just wasn't good enough," Choi said. "I have to accept this quickly and move on to the next races."

Choi, captain of the national short track team here, stayed behind after her consolation final to watch her teammate Kim Gil-li win bronze. "I was so proud of her," Choi said, beaming. "She was crying so much. So I wanted to give her a hug and congratulate her right away."