‘ah! Mixed Relay Disqualification’… Short track queen Choi Min-jung, still wins 2 gold medals in the Winter U competition

Choi Min-jeong (25, Yonsei University), the Korean short track ace, won two gold medals at the 2023 Winter World University Games (U competition).

Choi Min-jung won her gold medal in the women’s 500m short track at the 1932 Rink at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York, on the 21st (Korean time). It is her second gold medal following her 1500m win the previous day. However, the Korean team, including Choi Min-jung, crossed the finish line first in the mixed 2000m relay that followed, but was disqualified. Choi Min-jung aims for her maximum of four gold medals in the women’s 1000m and women’s 3000m relay, which will be held at the same place on the 22nd.

Choi Min-jeong easily won the women’s 500m final with a record of 44.050 seconds. As soon as she started she took first place, and she never gave up the lead until she crossed the finish line. On the final lap, she trailed the second place group by a long distance. Park Ji-yoon (Korea National Sport University) won the bronze medal with a time of 44.723 seconds. The silver medal went to China’s Wang Yiqiao, who recorded a time of 44.568 seconds. Seo Hwi-min (Korea University) crossed the finish line with a record of 44.645 seconds, but failed to win a medal due to a penalty. 스포츠토토

In the mixed 2000m relay finals that followed, Choi teamed up with Kim Kun-hee (Dankook University), Jung Sung-woo (Korea University), and Kim Tae-seong (Dankook University) to cross the finish line first, recording a record of 2 minutes 44 seconds 728.

However, the judges penalized all teams except for France, which placed last among the four countries that made it to the final, including South Korea, the United States, and China, which crossed the finish line in second and third place. An official from the Korea Ice Skating Federation said, “We decided that the three teams misunderstood the number of laps.”

Kim Tae-seong, who won the men’s 1500m short track speed skating the day before, added a silver medal in the men’s 500m. Korea ranked second overall after Japan (21 golds, 16 silvers, 16 bronzes) with 9 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 6 bronze medals each.