Choi Min-jeong
Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | South Korea |
Born | Seongnam, South Korea | 9 September 1998
Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) |
Weight | 54 kg (119 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | South Korea |
Sport | Short track speed skating |
Event(s) | 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m |
Club | Seongnam City Hall |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | 500m: 42.422 (2018) 1000m: 1:27:852 (2019) 1500m: 2:14:354 WR (2016) 3000m: 4:58:939 (2018) |
Medal record |
Choi Min-jeong | |
Hangul | 최민정 |
---|---|
Hanja | 崔珉禎 |
Revised Romanization | Choe Minjeong |
McCune–Reischauer | Ch'oe Minjŏng |
Choi Min-jeong (Hangul: 최민정; born 9 September 1998) is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a three-time Olympic Champion (2018, 2022), a three-time World Champion (2015, 2016, 2018), one-time Four Continents Champion (2020), and the current world record holder for 1500m. Along with Chun Lee-kyung and Jin Sun-Yu, Choi is widely regarded as one of the best female Korean short track speed skaters of all time.
Personal life
Choi took up skating as a hobby at the age of 6 and joined a local club to further pursue it when she was 8. Her inspiration came from watching Jin Sun-yu's triple Olympic gold haul at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She is enrolled at Yonsei University, majoring in Sport Industry Studies.
Career
Junior career
Choi won third overall behind teammates Noh Do-hee and Ahn Se-jung after winning 1000m gold, 1500m silver at the 2014 World Junior Championships.
Senior career
During the 2014-15 season at the senior level, Choi won her first World Cup gold medal ahead of Arianna Fontana and Shim Suk-hee in Montréal. At just 16 years old, she took her first World title at the 2015 World Championships in Moscow after winning gold in 1000m and 3000m, and successfully defended her title in Seoul a year later.[1] During the 2016-17 season, Choi set a new world record time of 2:14:354 in 1500m in Salt Lake City.
In 2018, at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Choi became a two-time Olympic Champion after winning gold in 1500m and 3000m relay. She set and currently holds the Olympic record in the 500m after breaking the previous Olympic record set by Elise Christie by 0.45 seconds.[2] Choi was one of the big favourites heading to the A final, but she was penalized for interference having finished second.[3] Choi went on to win the 1500m gold and led her team to the 3000m relay gold by more than eight seconds.[1] She crashed and finished fourth after colliding with Shim Suk-hee in the 1000m finals.
Choi won her third World title at the 2018 World Championships collecting 110 points overall after winning gold in 500m, 1500m, and 3000m Superfinal.[4]
At the inaugural 2020 Four Continents Championships, Choi had a clean sweep after winning gold medals in every distance. She was crowned the first-ever Four Continents overall champion after finishing first overall ahead of teammate Seo Whi-min and Courtney Sarault by a staggering margin of 89 and 92 points, respectively.[5] The 2020 World Championships in Seoul was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Choi withdrew from the 2021 World Championships due to the pandemic.[6]
During the 2021-22 season, she suffered knee and ankle injuries in separate collisions during the World Cup opener in Beijing in October.[7] She was unable to compete in at the following World Cup event in Nagoya due to her injuries.[8] Choi also had to deal with off-ice issues when the leaked text messages from her longtime teammate Shim implied that Shim tripped her on purpose during the match.[9]
Choi will compete for Team Korea in short track speed skating at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
References
- ^ a b "Life is a learning curve for Republic of Korea's golden girl Choi Min-Jeong". Olympics. March 3, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ "Watch Winter Olympics: Day one highlights". BBC Sport. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- ^ "Winter Olympics: DQ drama hits South Korea's star skater Choi as veteran Fontana grabs Italy's 1st Pyeongchang gold". The Straits Times. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
- ^ "ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships: the best moments - International Skating Union". www.isu.org. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ "Best Moment: Choi Min Jeong leaves rivals gasping with ISU Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating clean sweep - International Skating Union". www.isu.org. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ "Absence of Asian powerhouses creates opportunity for Schulting - International Skating Union". www.isu.org. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ "Choi Min-jeong returns to Korea after injury at ISU World Cup". koreajoongangdaily.joins.com. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ "ST - Person Bio". www.isu.html.infostradasports.com. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ^ Yonhap (2022-01-05). "Olympic short track champion downplays concerns about medal". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
External links
- Choi Min-jeong at the International Skating Union
- Profile from The-Sports.org
- 1998 births
- Living people
- South Korean female short track speed skaters
- Olympic short track speed skaters of South Korea
- Short track speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
- Short track speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
- People from Seongnam
- Asian Games medalists in short track speed skating
- Short track speed skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
- Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea
- Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea
- Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea
- Medalists at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
- Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics
- Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for South Korea
- Olympic silver medalists for South Korea
- Olympic medalists in short track speed skating
- World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists