S. Korean short trackers to vie for Olympic berths at world championships in Beijing

SEOUL, 13 March (BelTA - Yonhap) - South Korean short track speed skaters will compete for direct tickets to the 2026 Winter Olympics at the world championships starting in China this week.

Beijing will host the International Skating Union (ISU) World Short Track Speed Skating Championships from Friday to Sunday at Capital Indoor Stadium, which also held short track races at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Among South Koreans, a male and a female skater who wins at least one individual gold medal, and leads his and her team in overall rankings will each receive an automatic spot on the national team for the 2025-26 season -- and thus qualify for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.

All the remaining South Korean skaters must survive their famously competitive national team trials, which annually feature multiple Olympic medalists and past world champions.

A dominant force in short track for decades, South Korea leads the all-time Olympic medal table with 26 gold, 16 silver and 11 bronze medals. China is a distant second with 12 gold medals and 37 medals overall.

At the world championships, Park Ji-won, the two-time World Cup overall champion, will be leading the South Korean men's team. The country was shut out of medals in all men's individual races at last year's worlds in the Netherlands and took silver in the 5,000-meter relay.

On the women's side, three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong and 2024 World Cup champion Kim Gil-li will be at the forefront.

Choi hasn't missed a beat after sitting out the 2023-24 season to rest, as she grabbed three gold medals at the Asian Winter Games last month. Kim, 20, emerged as the new star in Choi's absence last season and won her first career world title in the 1,500m a year ago.

The first day of the championships will feature qualifying races for individual and relay events. On Saturday, finals are scheduled in the men's 500m and 1,500m, and the women's 1,000m and 3,000m relay.

Sunday will see finals in the men's 1,000m and 5,000m relay, the women's 500m and 1,500m, and the mixed 2,000m relay.