[Anchor]

Short track living legend Choi Min-jeong, who announced her retirement from the national team after this season, is turning back the clock. Displaying even more dominant skills than in previous seasons at the first and second stops of the World Tour, she is continuing a brilliant last dance.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story.

[Reporter]

As the only South Korean skater to reach the women's 1,500m final, Choi Min-jeong engaged in a fierce battle against a total of nine skaters, including three from Italy, three from the Netherlands, and two from Canada.

Biding her time in the middle of the pack, Choi narrowly avoided a precarious situation where three Dutch skaters tangled and fell. Moving up to second place with a surprise inside pass on the final lap while running in third, she put on a desperate spurt, but the remaining distance was too short to overturn the result.

Though she narrowly missed out on the gold, Choi wrapped up the second World Tour event with one gold medal and one silver medal, continuing to showcase her invincible prowess in her final national team season at the age of 28.

Sweeping the 1,000m events at both the first and second stops, she captured a total of four individual medals, boasting more gold medals—as well as a higher total medal count—than the first two stops of the previous two seasons.

Her tactical race management—exploiting narrow gaps for an inside pass when her signature outside dash is blocked—is evaluated as having improved even further compared to last season when she was preparing for the Olympics.

Amidst placards hung by fans urging her not to retire filling the venue, Choi will continue her 'last dance' in front of home fans at the third World Tour stop, which opens in Seoul on the 20th.

[Choi Min-jeong / Short Track National Team Member: I ask for your continued and enthusiastic support up to the third World Tour stop held in Korea. I will work hard and show you a good performance.]

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young, Design: Kim Han-gil)