Korean short track, a traditional medal-rich discipline in winter sports, got off to the worst possible start at the Milano-Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympics. In the first event, the mixed relay, Kim Gil-li (Seongnam City Hall) was unable to avoid a rival who had fallen ahead and was tripped, and the team failed to reach the final.

The mixed relay team finished third behind Canada and Belgium in semifinal heat 2 at the Milan Ice Skating Arena on the 10th. A fall by the leading U.S. skater during the second leg sent the race into turmoil. For Korea, it was the worst-case scenario.

After first skater Choi Min-jeong (Seongnam City Hall) wrapped up her stint in third, second skater Kim Gil-li accelerated into second to threaten leader Canada. Just as Kim was dueling Belgium for second, the U.S. skater in front suddenly lost balance and went down, and it worked to Korea's disadvantage.

As the U.S. skater slid off the course, the trailing Kim failed to avoid contact and collided. With Kim down, Choi hastily took the baton. Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office) and then Lim Jong-eon (Goyang City Hall) fought to the end, but they crossed the line in third. The Korean contingent lodged a protest with the judges over the incident, but the outcome did not change. The judgment appears to have been that, when Kim fell, they were in third place and thus the race order was not affected.

In the mixed relay semifinals, eight teams are split into two heats. The top two in each heat advance to Final A for the medals, with the rest moving to Final B. In Final B against the United States, the Netherlands, and France, the team placed second. The Netherlands, a strong favorite for the title, had dropped into Final B and took first.

With nine gold medals up for grabs in short track, the national team had quietly aimed even for gold in this event, but was denied. The mixed relay, first introduced at the Beijing Games, has four skaters, men and women, covering 500ｍ each for a total of 2000ｍ to determine the order. The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals at its first Olympics.