[Olympics] Tonight, I'll Show You a Fiery 'Friday'

Now It's Choi Min-jeong's Turn... Second Challenge in Women's Short Track
High Expectations for 1000m Participation... Fully Focused on Making Up for 500m Mistake
"Just Because I Fell Once Doesn't Mean What I Prepared Is Gone"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Choi Min-jeong (Seongnam City Hall), South Korea's leading female short track speed skater, will challenge for the country's second gold medal on the 11th. The short track team successfully shifted the momentum with Hwang Dae-heon (Korea National Sport University) winning a gold medal. Now it's Choi Min-jeong's turn to shine.

On this day, Choi Min-jeong will compete in the women's 1000m short track event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. This is the event where Choi has achieved her best results this season, raising expectations. After returning from an injury in November last year, she won a silver medal and a gold medal at the 3rd and 4th ISU World Cup events, respectively.

The quarterfinal draw is also favorable. Among the 4th heat competitors, only one skater ranked within the top 15 in the world, Christine Santos (USA), is present. Choi Min-jeong is ranked 3rd globally. After completing official training on the 10th, she said, "I checked the heat and planned my strategy. I can't disclose the details, but I will race safely." This comment reflects on the mistake she made in the 500m quarterfinal on the 7th, where she fell while running in second place with two laps remaining, leaving some regret.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Immediately after the race, Choi Min-jeong showed tears, saying, "I thought I was well prepared, but the disappointment is great." It took only two days to recover her performance. On the 9th, she easily passed the 1000m preliminaries, and in the subsequent 3000m relay semifinals, she staged a remarkable comeback. Even while taking the outer corner on the last lap, she overtook the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team in second place. She stated, "Just because I fell once doesn't mean all the preparation is gone. I will carefully prepare for variables such as ice conditions. Especially, I will be cautious at the last corner where many skaters fell."

She must also be wary of biased judging that could appear unexpectedly. She may face challenging Chinese skaters such as Han Yutong, Qu Chunyu, and Zhang Chutong starting from the semifinals. However, Choi Min-jeong said, "I don't focus on any particular skater," adding, "Especially, I don't pay attention to Chinese skaters."

Yoo Bin (Yonsei University), competing in the same event, will face Mami Bainy (USA), Natalia Maliszewska (Poland), Yekaterina Yefremenkova, and Anna Bostrikova (both ROC) in Heat 2. All are considered worthy opponents. The semifinal qualification spots will be given to the top two finishers in each heat and the two fastest third-place finishers across all heats.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Hwang Dae-heon and Lee Jun-seo (Korea National Sport University) will participate in the men's 500m preliminaries. Hwang Dae-heon, ranked 5th in the world in this event, will race in Heat 6 against Abzal Azhaliyev (Kazakhstan), Ryan Pivirotto (USA), and Izaak de Laat (Netherlands). Lee Jun-seo will compete in Heat 1 against Sandor Liu Shaolin (Hungary), Sebastien Lepape (France), and Kota Kikuchi (Japan). Wu Dajing, the world record holder (39.505 seconds), is assigned to Heat 8, and Ren Ziwei, who controversially won the men's 1000m, is in Heat 2.

Hwang Dae-heon and Lee Jun-seo will also compete in the men's 5000m relay semifinals alongside Park Jang-hyuk (Sports Toto), Kwak Yoon-gi (Goyang City Hall), and Kim Dong-wook (Sports Toto). They will face Hungary, the Netherlands, and ROC for the two available spots in the finals. The eldest member, Kwak Yoon-gi, said, "Honestly, we don't know what kind of judging will come in the relay either," adding, "We will compete rationally rather than emotionally."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.