S. Korea's main delegation arrives in Italy for Winter Olympics

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- The main South Korean delegation competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics has arrived in the host country of Italy.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said a group of 38 athletes and officials landed in Milan, which will host all skating events, on Friday evening (local time). Seven other athletes and officials who had left South Korea on Friday afternoon traveled to Cortina d'Ampezzo, the site of snow and sliding events.

According to the KSOC, the group arriving in Milan was greeted by Choi Tae-ho, South Korea's consul general in the Italian city, and representatives from the South Korean community in Milan.

Speed skater Park Ji-woo and short tracker Lee June-seo carried the national flag, Taegeukgi, at the airport. Park will serve as a co-flag bearer, alongside figure skater Cha Jun-hwan, at the opening ceremony Friday, while Lee is the captain of the men's short track team.

In all, South Korea will have 71 athletes competing in six sports across northern Italy. The KSOC has stated that the objective is to bring home at least three gold medals, one more than the total from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and finish inside the top 10 in the medal race.

The opening ceremony is Friday, but South Korea's first action will come Wednesday with the first round-robin match in the mixed doubles curling.

The competition will wrap up Feb. 22.

The Milan-Cortina Games will be the most widespread Olympics ever, with venues covering 22,000 square kilometers of land. In addition to Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Valtellina Cluster will host the men's alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding, while the Val di Fiemme Cluster will be home to ski jumping, Nordic combined and cross-country skiing. Both clusters are hundreds of kilometers northeast of Milan.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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