Speed Skating Star Lee Na-hyun Achieves Korea's First Top-10 Finish in Women's 1000m

Speed skating rising star Lee Na-hyun of Korea National Sport University became the first Korean athlete to finish in the top 10 in the women's 1000m event at a Winter Olympics.

Lee clocked 1:15.76 to finish ninth in the women's 1000m speed skating event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, held at the Milan Speed Skating Stadium on February 9 local time.

No Korean skater had previously cracked the top 10 in this event. The previous best was Yoo Sun-hee's 11th-place finish at the 1992 Albertville Games—a record that stood for 34 years.

Lee competed in the 13th pair on the outer lane alongside Ellia Maylan of Great Britain.

She passed the 200m split in 17.90 seconds, ranking ninth overall at that point. She maintained consistent speed through the 600m mark at 45.49 seconds, good for 10th place, before crossing the finish line in ninth.

Kim Min-sun of Uijeongbu City Hall, also competing for Korea, finished 18th with a time of 1:16.24.

Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands won gold with an Olympic record time of 1:12.31. Bronze went to Japan's Miho Takagi, who clocked 1:13.95.

Having completed their analysis of the ice conditions through the 1000m race, both Lee and Kim will pursue medals in their primary event, the women's 500m, on February 16 Korea time.