The gold medal in the women's 1500m short track speed skating event is going around the same neck as it did in 2018.
South Korea's Choi Min-Jeong defended her gold medal from Pyeongchang with a win at the 2022 Winter Olympics. She beat out Arianna Fontana of Italy and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands for first place in the finals.
Choi took the lead at the halfway point of the race and never let it go after, despite the pressure from Fontana and Schulting. It's the first gold and third medal for the South Korean in Beijing, previously winning silver in the women's 1000m and 3000m relay.
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Fontana earned silver while Schulting took bronze. It's Fontana's second medal in 2022 and Schulting's fourth.
Choi's race in the finals was not even her best of the Games. She set a new Olympic record in the semifinals with a time of 2:16.831.
The trio of Kristen Santos, Corinne Stoddard and Julia Letai all made it to the semifinals, but none of the three advanced to the medal round for the Americans.
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Santos was in excellent position to qualify on time in her semifinals race, skating in the top-3 for the first 10 laps of the race. However, Hungary's Petra Jaszapati changed lanes and made contact with Japan's Sumire Kikuchi, whose fall caused Santos to lose momentum and slip behind the pack.
While Jaszapati was penalized, Santos was only allowed to advance to Finals B, losing an opportunity at a medal.
Stoddard finished sixth of the seven skaters in her heat and Letai finished last in hers.
