The American short track speed skater who caused Kim Gil-ri to fall during the mixed relay semifinal at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics has issued a public apology.
Corinne Stoddard of the United States posted on her Instagram on Jan. 11 (Korea time): "I want to publicly apologize to my teammates for my performance yesterday. I am also sorry to the athletes from other teams who were affected when I fell."
"None of what happened yesterday was my intention," Stoddard said. "I also want good Olympic results. Something was wrong with me yesterday." She added: "I will work through training to find the cause and return to my former self. I will take a break from social media for a while."
In the second heat of the mixed 2,000-meter relay semifinal held at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Italy the previous day, Stoddard slipped and fell while skating. Kim Gil-ri of the Korean national team, who was following behind, collided with Stoddard and tumbled. Korea finished third in the heat and failed to advance to the final. The coaching staff filed a protest, but the team was denied an advance because Korea was in third place at the time of the collision.
Kim was unable to compete in Final B, the ranking race, due to shock and pain. She reportedly avoided serious injury.
Following the incident, Stoddard's social media accounts were flooded with critical comments from users in Korea and abroad. Some Korean users posted harsh criticism, while users appearing to be American also pointed out performance issues. Stoddard eventually disabled comments on her social media.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with Kwak Yun-gi, a commentator and former short track national team member, Stoddard said the repeated falls "could be a blade issue." She explained: "I like to change blades after races, so I tried changing them after practice, and they felt better during practice." Regarding the ice conditions at the venue, she said: "It's figure skating ice. It wasn't made for short track, so it's too soft, and everyone is struggling with it."
Kwak said: "In the moment [during the race], I was so angry that I briefly blamed Stoddard. But this is sports. This is something we have to accept."
Stoddard fell and was eliminated in the women's 500-meter preliminary round, and also slipped in both the quarterfinal and semifinal of the mixed 2,000-meter relay. In all three instances, including the individual event, she fell on her own without contact from other skaters.