Korea rides late spurt to meet gold medal target

MILAN — Thanks to some late push from its short track speed skaters, Korea met its target of taking home at least three gold medals from the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics this month. With its last athletes in action, a pair of four-man bobsleigh teams, well out of medal contention entering the final day of the Olympics on Sunday, Korea will likely finish with three gold medals, four silver medals and three bronze medals. Korea won two golds, five silvers and two bronzes at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. For the 2026 competition in northern Italy, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) had set out to win at least one more gold medal than Beijing. Short track speed skater Kim Gil-li delivered that third gold medal with her women's 1,500-meter title Friday night over teammate Choi Min-jeong. Earlier Friday, the men's 5,000-meter relay team raced to the silver medal. Once again, short rack speed skaters did the heavy lifting in the medal race. They accounted for two golds, three silvers and two bronzes -- compared to two golds and three silvers in Beijing. Kim Gil-li was the lone doubl