South Korean women's track cycling team members Shin Ji-eun (Geumsan County Office) and Jang Su-ji (Sangju City Hall) narrowly missed out on a medal in the women's madison event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Competing in the women's madison final at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on October 1, the duo of Shin Ji-eun and Jang Su-ji finished fourth out of eight teams with a total score of 26 points.

Shin, who secured South Korea's first medal of the delegation by finishing third in the women's individual time trial earlier in the tournament and teamed up with colleagues including Jang Su-ji to win a bronze medal in the team pursuit on September 30, was eyeing her third medal of the Games today.

However, they fell just four points short of third-place China (30 points), missing a spot on the podium.

Madison is an event where teams of two take turns riding a 250-meter track for 120 laps (30 kilometers in total), with rankings determined by summing up sprint points awarded to the top four teams every 10 laps.

South Korea steadily accumulated 1 to 2 points at a time, entering the top four in every sprint section except for the fourth.

In the final 12th sprint of the 120th lap, which featured double points (10 points), they unleashed a powerful late surge to cross the finish line first and instantly add 10 points, but they ultimately failed to overtake China.

The gold medal went to Japan, which dominated the competition with 53 points, while the silver medal went to Hong Kong (31 points) and the bronze to China (30 points).

(Photo courtesy of Korea Cycling Federation, Yonhap News)