BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Sun Long rebounded from earlier disappointment to claim silver in the men's 1,000 meters short track speed skating on Thursday, earning the country's first medal of the discipline at Milan-Cortina 2026.

The two-time Olympian finished in one minute, 24.565 seconds, just 0.028 behind gold medalist Jens van 'T Wout of the Netherlands. South Korea's Rim Jong-un took bronze in 1:24.611.

Earlier at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, Dutch star Xandra Velzeboer shattered the women's 500m short track world record, clocking 41.399 seconds in the semifinals to better her own mark set in 2022. She went on to claim gold in 41.609.

While much of the attention was on American star Chloe Kim's attempt at a historic third straight Olympic snowboard halfpipe title, South Korea's Choi Ga-on delivered the shock of the Games.

17-year-old Choi stormed to gold in the women's halfpipe final with a stunning final run, denying Kim a three-peat and securing South Korea's first gold medal of the Games.

Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle defended his men's snowboard cross title in dramatic fashion, edging Canada's Eliot Grondin by 0.03 seconds in a photo finish, nearly identical to his victory margin at the Beijing Games. Jakob Dusek of Austria took bronze.

Australia's Cooper Woods produced one of the Games' biggest breakthroughs, defeating Canadian moguls legend Mikael Kingsbury on a tiebreak after both scored 83.71 points. Woods earned gold on superior turns, while Japan's Ikuma Horishima took bronze.

Host nation Italy celebrated its first alpine skiing gold as Federica Brignone powered to victory in the women's super-G.

Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida captured her second Olympic gold medal by edging Merel Conijn of the Netherlands by 0.10 seconds in the women's 5,000m speed skating.

Sweden's Frida Karlsson claimed her second gold at the Games in the women's cross-country 10km individual event.

Germany took gold in the team relay with a new track record of three minutes 41.672 seconds to wrap up the luge competition.