Speed skating: Min-Jeong wins short track gold, Fontana becomes most-decorated Italian

Feb. 16 (UPI) -- South Korea's Choi Min-Jeong beat Italy's Arianna Fontana and the Netherlands' Suzanne Schulting to the finish line to claim gold in the women's 1,500-meter short track speed skating final Wednesday in Beijing.

Min-Jeong, who also won gold in the event at the 2018 Winter Games, clocked a time of 2:17.789 Wednesday at Capital Indoor Stadium. She set previous world and Olympic records in the event.

Fontana won the silver medal with a time of 2:17.862 in the final short track speed skating competition of the 2022 Winter Games.

Schulting crossed the finish line in 2:17.865. Belgium's Hanne Desmet and Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands rounded out the Top 5 finishers.

Fontana, the most-decorated short track speed skater in Olympic history, pushed her medal total to 11 overall and totaled three in Beijing to become the most-decorated Italian in Winter Games history.

Fontana won gold in the 500-meter, defending her title from the 2018 Winter Games. She also claimed a silver medal in the 2,000-meter mixed relay, in addition to her finish in the 1,500-meter in Beijing.

Min-Jeong's gold-medal finish followed two silver medal runs in Beijing. She placed second in the 1,000-meter and was on South Korea's second-place 3,000-meter relay team. She also won gold in the 3,000m relay at the 2018 Winter Games.

Schulting won four medals in Beijing to push her overall total to six. She defended her 1,000m title from the 2018 Winter Games with another victory in Beijing.

She also won a gold medal as part of the Netherlands' 3,000-meter relay team and won silver in the 500-meter.