South Korea targets 400th Olympic medal at Games

Who will win South Korea’s 400th Olympic medal?

As the 2026 Milano-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics get underway, the first South Korean athlete to win a medal at this Games will also secure the country’s 400th Olympic medal. Before this competition, South Korea had earned 320 Summer Olympic medals and 79 Winter Olympic medals, totaling 399.

The first athletes to compete for a medal are cross-country skiers Lee Ui-jin, 25, and Han Da-som, 32. They will race in the women’s 10km + 10km skiathlon final at the Tesero Cross-Country Ski Stadium on Feb. 7, South Korea time. The next day, Lee Jun-seo, 23, will compete in the men’s final in the same event. Given the gap in skill with the world’s top athletes, their chances of winning a medal are considered low.

The strongest contender is snowboarder Lee Sang-ho, 31, nicknamed the “Cabbage Boy,” who will compete in the men’s parallel giant slalom on Feb. 8 at Livigno Snowpark in Italy. Lee is seeking his second Olympic medal, having won silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. After struggling for much of the season, he recently won the 2025-2026 FIS Snowboard World Cup men’s parallel giant slalom final in Rogla, Slovenia, defeating Italy’s Roland Fischnaller by 0.24 seconds.

“My preparation for the Olympics is complete. I will carry this momentum into the Games and give my best performance with no regrets,” Lee said. At the 2022 Beijing Games, he led the qualifying round but lost in the quarterfinals to Viktor Wild of Russia by just 0.01 seconds.

If Lee fails to medal, high school snowboarder Yoo Seung-eun, 18, could be next. Yoo will compete in the women’s big air qualifiers on Feb. 9 and the final on Feb. 10. In December, she placed second at the third World Cup event in Colorado, United States, scoring 173.25 points, just behind Japan’s Miyabi Onitsuka, who scored 174.00 points. This made Yoo the first South Korean athlete to reach the podium in this event.

South Korea’s traditional strength, short track speed skating, will begin its medal races with the mixed relay final on Feb. 10.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com