Members of the Korean women's short track speed skating relay team celebrate their gold medal at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Wednesday. From left are Shim Suk-hee, Noh Do-hee, Lee So-yeon, Kim Gil-li and Choi Min-jeong. Yonhap
MILAN — Korea collected its second gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday in short track speed skating, as the women's 3,000-meter relay team came through with the top prize.
The team of Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li, Noh Do-hee and Shim Suk-hee finished first in the 27-lap race, ahead of Italy and Canada, for Korea's first short track gold medal of these Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan.
Midway through the race, Choi nearly fell to the ice when Michelle Velzeboer collided with her after skating into the blade of a Canadian's skate. But Choi stayed on her feet and kept Korea in third place. In the late stages, both Italy and Korea moved past Canada, and then Kim anchored Korea to the gold medal with a burst of speed over the final two laps.
Korea now has two gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals at this Olympics. The competition will wrap up Sunday.
Also on Wednesday, Korea easily defeated Sweden 8-3 in the women's curling tournament at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, 260 kilometers northeast of Milan.
Korea scored three points in the opening end and never trailed the rest of the way.
Korea improved to 5-3 in the round-robin stage with one final match remaining against Canada on Thursday. A win will send Korea to the semifinals.
In snowboard, women's big air bronze medalist Yu Seung-eun finished in 12th place in the slopestyle at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, 140 kilometers north of Milan.
Yu scored 34.18 points to rank last among a dozen finalists.
Source: Korea Times News
