Choi Min-jeong (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 최민정; born 9 September 1998) is a South Korean

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

. She is a three-time Olympic Champion (2018, 2022), a four-time World Champion (2015, 2016, 2018, 2022), Four Continents Champion (2020), and the current world record holder for 1500m. Along with

Chun Lee-kyung Chun Lee-kyung (Hangul: 전이경, Hanja: 全利卿; born January 6, 1976, in Okcheon, Chungcheongbuk-do) is a retired South Korean short track speed skater. She is a four-time Olympic Champion and three-time Overall World Champion for 1995– ...

and Jin Sun-yu, Choi is widely regarded as one of the best female Korean short track speed skaters of all time.

Career

Junior career

Choi won third overall behind teammates

Noh Do-hee Noh Do-hee (Hangul: 노도희; born 13 December 1995) is a South Korean short track speed skater. Two-time overall world junior champion Noh was called up to the South Korean national team for the 2014–15 season, and had two podium finishes i ...

and Ahn Se-jung after winning 1000m gold and 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 Arianna Fontana OMRI (born 14 April 1990) is an Italian short track speed skater, who has won eleven Olympic medals among these two gold medals in the 500m short track, one at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the second one at the 20 ...

and

Shim Suk-hee Shim Suk-hee (Hangul: 심석희; ; born 30 January 1997) is a South Korean short track speed skater. She is a two-time Olympic Champion (2014, 2018) and a World Champion (2014). Early life At the age of 6, Shim started short track speed skatin ...

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. A year later, she successfully defended her title in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. 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 the 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 Elise Christie (born 13 August 1990) is a British former short track speed skater. She was coached by Nicky Gooch and she specialised in the 1000m event. She is ten times a European gold medallist, including two overall European titles in 2015 ...

by 0.45 seconds. Choi was one of the big favourites heading to the A final, but she was penalized for interference having finished second. Choi went on to win the 1500m gold and led her team to the 3000m relay gold by more than eight seconds. She crashed and finished fourth after colliding with

in the 1000m finals. Choi won her third overall World title at the 2018 World Championships, collecting 110 points overall after winning gold in the 500m, 1500m, and 3000m Superfinal. 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. The 2020 World Championships in Seoul was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and Choi withdrew from the

2021 World Championships 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

due to the pandemic. During the 2021–22 season, she suffered knee and ankle injuries in separate collisions during the October World Cup opener in Beijing. She was unable to compete in at the following World Cup event in Nagoya due to her injuries. 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. Choi competed for Korea at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, winning gold in the 1500m, setting a new Olympic record in the quarterfinal. She also won two silver medals in the 1000m and women's 3000m relay. Choi was crowned the world short track speed skating champion at the 2022 World Championships after winning gold in the 1000m, 1500m, and 3000m Superfinals. This is her first world title in four years (vice world champion in 2019, world championships cancelled in 2020, withdrew in 2021) and her fourth overall world title. She also anchored Team Korea in the women's 3000m relay from the bronze medal position to gold in the final curve of the relay with an incredible move, finishing 0.034 seconds ahead of Team Canada.

Personal life

Choi took up skating as a hobby at the age of six and joined a local club to pursue skating further when she was eight. Her inspiration came from watching Jin Sun-Yu's triple Olympic gold haul at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. She is enrolled at

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the "SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in the ...

, majoring in Sport Industry Studies.

Philanthropy

On 7 March 2022, Choi donated 50 million won to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help the victims of the massive wildfire that started in Uljin, Gyeongbuk, and has spread to Samcheok, Gangwon.

Awards and nominations

References

External links