Hwang Dae-heon Claims Silver in Short Track 1500m, Medals in Three Consecutive Olympics

South Korean short track speed skater Hwang Dae-heon won a silver medal in the men's 1500m event.

Hwang clocked 2 minutes 12.304 seconds in the men's 1500m final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics held at the Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 14 (local time), finishing second behind Jens van 't Wout of the Netherlands (2:12.219). The defending gold medalist from the 2022 Beijing Games settled for silver this time.

Hwang advanced to the final alongside Shin Dong-min and competed against a field of nine skaters.

Starting from the back of the pack early in the race, Hwang joined the fierce battle for the lead from the 11th lap.

With five laps remaining, three skaters fell. Hwang moved into third place with four laps to go and surged to second with two laps left.

He chased leader van 't Wout until the final lap but could not close the gap, finishing with silver.

Hwang, who won silver in the men's 500m at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, gold in the men's 1500m and silver in the men's 5000m relay at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has now medaled in three consecutive Games and claimed his fourth career Olympic medal.

The South Korean delegation has now won five medals at these Games. Earlier, Choi Ga-on captured gold in women's snowboard halfpipe, Kim Sang-gyeom took silver in men's snowboard parallel giant slalom, and Yoo Seung-eun (women's snowboard big air) and Lim Jong-eon (short track men's 1000m) each won bronze.

Van 't Wout claimed his second gold medal of the Games. Shin Dong-min finished fourth.

Lim Jong-eon, the men's team ace who was considered a gold medal favorite, failed to medal after falling in heat 5 of the quarterfinals. Running in fourth place, he slipped while attempting to overtake on the final curve before the finish line.

Lin Xiaojun of China (Korean name: Lim Hyo-jun), the men's 1500m champion at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, was eliminated in the quarterfinals.