Choi Min-jeong of Korea, right, competes in the heats for the women's 1,000 meters in short track speed skating at the Asian Winter Games at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, Feb. 7. Yonhap
Korean short track speed skaters expected to contend for medals easily made it past the early stages of the Asian Winter Games in China on Friday.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Choi Min-jeong and the reigning World Cup overall champion Kim Gil-li both advanced to the semifinals of the women's 1,500 meters at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin. They each won their quarterfinal heats held Friday morning, hours before the opening ceremony of the ninth Asian Winter Games.
Another Korean, two-time Olympic relay champion Shim Suk-hee, finished second in her quarterfinal group to also reach the semifinals.
Also on Friday, Choi, Kim and Shim all qualified for the quarterfinals of the women's 1,000 meters.
In the women's 500 meters, Choi, Kim, and Lee So-yeon all advanced out of the heats to reach the quarterfinals.
Jang Sung-woo of Korea, right, competes in the heats for the men's 500 meters in short track speed skating at the Asian Winter Games at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, Feb. 7. Yonhap
On the men's side Friday, two-time World Cup champion Park Ji-won made it to the semifinals in the men's 1,500 meters, joined by teammates Jang Sung-woo and Kim Gun-woo.
The same three skaters cruised to the quarterfinals in the men's 1,000 meters.
In the men's 500 meters, Park, Jang and Kim Tae-sung moved on to the quarterfinals.
In the 2,000 meters mixed relay, the quartet of Noh Do-hee, Shim Suk-hee, Kim Tae-sung and Kim Gun-woo sent Korea to the semifinals, and then Choi, Kim Gil-li, Park and Jang won their semifinal heat to book a spot in the final.
After a jampacked day on the ice, Park said he will try to grab multiple gold medals over the weekend.
With the 500 meters having long been Korea's weakest event, Park said: "It's the toughest race, and it makes me want to win gold there that much more. I will try to win as many gold medals as possible."
As for going up against rivals from the home team China, including Korean-born Lin Xiaojun, Park declared: "When I walk into an arena, I never think I will lose. So I think I should be able to win this time."
Lee Jun-hwan at the 1999 competition remains the only Korean man to have won an Asian Games gold in the 500 meters. No Korean woman has won it, with China having captured seven straight gold medals in the shortest race in short track.
Choi will try to end that streak in Harbin. She set an Asian Games record during the heats with a time of 43.321 seconds, breaking the previous mark set by Fan Kexin of China at the 2017 event (43.371).
"The ice conditions were better than I'd thought they were going to be, and I felt pretty good," Choi said. "I'd prepared really hard for the 500 meters, and that led to such a good time in the heats. I will try to post good results tomorrow as well. The important races start tomorrow, and I will try to bear down even more."
Saturday will be the first of two days of short track medal races in Harbin. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals for the women's and men's 500 meters, the semifinals and the finals for the women's and men's 1,500 meters, and the final for the 2,000 meters mixed relay will be held Saturday.
Sunday will feature finals for the 1,000 meters for both men and women, the women's 3,000 meters relay and the men's 5,000 meters relay.
Korea will try to capture six out of nine gold medals at stake. (Yonhap)
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