Korean, Italian Short Track Legends to Face Off in Women's 1000m Quarterfinals

Korean women's short track ace Choi Min-jung (Seongnam City Hall) will face Italian living legend Arianna Fontana in the women's 1000m quarterfinals at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

The organizing committee announced the heat assignments for this event on Saturday (Korea time).

Choi will compete in Heat 1 of the women's 1000m quarterfinals on Sunday against Fontana, Kim Boutin (Canada), Chiara Betti (Italy), and Gabriela Topolska (Poland).

Fontana is a veteran who has competed in the Olympics since the 2006 Turin Games. She has demonstrated her enduring prowess at these home Games, winning gold in the mixed 2000m relay and silver in the women's 500m. She extended her record for the most Olympic short track medals to 13 (3 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze).

Her career rivals that of Choi Min-jung, who is called a legend of Korean women's short track with 3 gold and 2 silver medals in Olympic history.

The women's 1000m quarterfinals feature 20 skaters across four heats. The top two from each heat advance to the semifinals, along with the two fastest third-place finishers among the four heats.

Kim Gil-li (Seongnam City Hall) and Noh Do-hee (Hwaseong City Hall) are grouped together in Heat 3, where they will compete against women's 500m gold medalist Sandra Velzeboer (Netherlands), U.S. women's team ace Kristen Santos-Griswold, and Hungary's Laura Vegi Diener.

The women's 1000m semifinals and finals will all be held on the same day.

Heat assignments for the men's 500m heats and men's 5000m relay semifinals were also announced for the same day.

Men's 1000m bronze medalist Lim Jong-eon (Goyang City Hall) will meet his role model Lin Xiaojun (China, Korean name: Lim Hyo-jun) in Heat 8.

Men's 1500m silver medalist Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office) will compete in Heat 5 against Sun Long (China), Maxime Laoun (Canada), and Brendan Corey (Australia).

In the men's 500m, the top two from each heat and the four fastest among the eight third-place finishers across eight heats will advance to the quarterfinals.

Only heats will be held on this day, with medal races scheduled for the 19th.

The men's 5000m relay team will compete against the Netherlands, Japan, and Belgium in Semifinal Heat 2.

Finishing in the top two of their heat will secure a spot in the final on the 21st.