South Korea's women reclaim Olympic gold in short track 3,000-meter relay

Kim Gilli, #6, of Korea celebrates after Team Korea wins gold during the women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay finals at the Milano Figure Skating Arena in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Italy won silver and Canada won bronze. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- With two laps to go, South Korea's Kim Gilli cut inside Italy's Arianna Fontana to seize the lead and anchor her team to an Olympic gold Wednesday in the women's short track 3,000-meter relay.

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The gold medal is the seventh won by South Korean women in the 3,000-meter relay since the event debuted in 1992, reinforcing their status as a speed-skating powerhouse after taking silver behind the Netherlands in 2022.

Gilli and her teammates Choi Minjeong, Shim Sukhee and Noh Dohee completed the 27 laps of the rink in Milano, Italy, at a blistering 4:04.014, a fraction faster than Italy's 4:04.107.

Canada won the bronze medal with a time of 4:04.314.

With 16 laps to go and Canada leading, the defending champions, the Netherlands, crashed and fell out of contention, opening up the lanes slightly with only three nations left competing.

Gold medalists Sukhee Shim, Noh Do-hee, Soyeon Lee, Gilli Kim and Minjeong Choi of Team Korea jump onto the podium during the medal ceremony after the women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay finals at the Milano Figure Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Italy won silver and Canada won bronze. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI

Canada held on to the lead for most of the remainder of the race with Italy not far behind and South Korea in third, until the 21st lap when the Canadian skater wobbled, letting Italy and South Korea jump into first and second.

Then with the finish approaching, Kim made her move.

Minjeong Choi, #5, and Gilli Kim, #6, of Team Korea celebrate after winning gold during the women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay finals at the Milano Figure Skating Arena in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Italy won silver and Canada won bronze. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI

It is Kim's second medal of these Olympics, after winning the bronze in the women's 1,000-meter short track last weekend.

For Italy's Fontana, it was her third, winning a silver medal in the women's 500-meter short track and a gold in the mixed team relay.

Gilli Kim, #6, of Korea holds the lead against Arianna Fontana, #10, of Italy during the women's short track speed skating 3,000-meter relay finals at the Milano Figure Skating Arena in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Korea won gold, Italy won silver and Canada won bronze. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI

It's also the 35-year-old's 14th medal over the last six Winter Olympics.

"Even though it's my 14th, winning it like this today is really incredible," Fontana told reporters after the race.

"This was a team effort. Every single one of us. No one left out. We put pressure when it was time to put pressure, and we're taking home a silver medal that I truly think is a dream come true for all of us."

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