The national team for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy on Feb. 22 poses for a group photo at the squad's official disbanding ceremony.
By Margareth Theresia
Photos = Korean Sport & Olympic Committee
The closing ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy on Feb. 22 ended the 17-day tournament. From Feb. 6-22, about 2,900 athletes from each country's national Olympic committee engaged in intense competition.
Korea finished 13th in overall with 10 medals, with 71 athletes competing in six events and winning three gold, four silver and three bronze. Though the country failed to meet its goal of a top 10 finish, it still placed a notch higher than its 14-place showing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Olympiad in Italy showed that the country, a perennial power in skating events, achieved progress in snow sports. Korea secured two gold, three silver and two bronze in skating and a gold, silver and bronze in snow events, showing its potential for diversification.
Members of the national women's short track team on Feb. 18 pose with their gold medals after winning the 3,000-m relay at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan. From left are Shim Sukhee, Noh Dohee, Lee Soyeon, Kim Gilli and Choi Minjeong.
Korea won all of its skating medals in short track, doing better than at Beijing 2022, when it earned two gold and three silver, by adding a bronze.
Kim Gilli won the bronze in the women's 1,000 m, the gold in the 3,000-m relay and another gold in the 1,500 m, earning her Most Valuable Player honors from Korean media and ushering in the "post-Choi Minjeong era."
Veteran Choi anchored the team with the silver in the 1,500 m and the gold in the relay. This gave her seven medals for her career, a record for a Korean athlete either in the Summer or Winter Olympics.
For the men, they won the silver in the 5,000-m relay. Rim Jongun, who won the bronze in the 1,000 m, and Hwang Daeheon, who bagged the silver in the 1,500 m, carried on the nation's reputation as a global power in short track.
Korea also won its first medals in skiing and snowboarding in a Winter Olympics.
Snowboarder Choi Gaon won Korea's first Olympic gold in a snow sport. At 17 years and three months old, she is also the youngest winner of the women's Olympic halfpipe.
Kim Sangkykum won the silver in the men's parallel giant slalom, while Yu Seungeun clinched bronze in the women's big air.
Choi Gaon (left) is the first Korean to win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding. Kim Gilli (right) was named Most Valuable Player of the national team by Korean media covering the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Other athletes saw progress and prospects for future success despite not winning medals.
In men's figure skating, Cha Junhwan finished just 0.98 points behind bronze medalist Shun Sato of Japan, improving on his fifth-place ranking at Beijing 2022 for the best showing by a Korean male skater in a Winter Olympics.
In the men's halfpipe, Lee Chaeun finished sixth by landing the world's first triple cork 1620. He also made history as the first Korean man to advance to the event's finals, punctuating his world-class technical ability.
Former national bobsledder Won Yunjong (left) and Estonian biathlete Johanna Taliharm on Feb. 19 give a thumbs up at the athletes' village for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy after being elected to the International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.
Two Koreans were also elected as high-ranking members of bodies under the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Kim Jae-youl, president of the International Skating Union, was elected to the IOC's Executive Board, the committee's highest decision-making body.
Former national bobsledder Won Yunjong also elected to an eight-year term on the IOC Athletes' Commission after receiving the most votes. The addition of these two Koreans to the IOC is expected to further spread the country's influence in global sports.
The French Alps will host the next Winter Olympics in 2030.
margareth@korea.kr
