Three national flags for South Korea, the Taegeukgis, are presented during the medal ceremony for the women's 500-meter short track speed skating event at the Asian Winter Games at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, Feb. 8. Choi Min-jeong, Kim Gil-li and Lee So-yeon won the gold, silver and bronze medals to pull off the South Korean podium sweep. Yonhap

South Korea arrived in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin this month with a goal of winning at least 11 gold medals at the Asian Winter Games.

The country took a huge step toward that target on the first day of the medal race on Saturday, as its athletes captured seven gold medals from ice and snow.

Short track speed skaters did the heavy lifting by grabbing four out of five gold medals at stake at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall.

South Korea won the mixed 2,000-meter relay gold medal to kick off a wildly successful day. Two of the relay members, Kim Gil-li and Park Ji-won, later won the women's 1,500m and the men's 1,500m gold medals. Another member of the relay team, Choi Min-jeong, led the South Korean podium sweep in the women's 500m, with Kim and Lee So-yeon finishing behind her.

Kim Gil-li of South Korea celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal in the women's 1,500-meter short track speed skating event at the Asian Winter Games at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, Feb. 8. Yonhap

Park added a silver in the men's 500m, as South Korea fell one gold medal shy of a short track title sweep on Saturday. Jang Sung-woo won bronze medals in both the men's 500m and 1,500m.

At the adjacent oval, Lee Na-hyun just edged out teammate Kim Min-sun for the gold medal in the inaugural women's 100m speed skating event.

Lee clocked 10.501 seconds for her first Asian Games gold, with Kim finishing in 10.505 seconds.

Kim Jun-ho was the men's 100m bronze medalist earlier in the day.

Park Ji-won, the last runner, celebrates after securing the gold medal in the mixed 2,000m short track speed skating relay final at the Asian Winter Games at Heilongjiang Ice Events Training Center Multifunctional Hall in Harbin, China, Feb. 8. Yonhap

Over at Yabuli Ski Resort, some 200 kilometers southeast of Harbin, a couple of South Korean teenagers delivered gold medals.

Lee Seung-hun, 19, won the gold in the men's freestyle skiing halfpipe event with 97.50 points, and teammate Moon Hee-sung got the bronze with 88.50 points. Jang Yu-jin was the bronze medalist in the women's halfpipe.

Lee is the first South Korean to win an Asiad gold in any freestyle skiing event.

South Korea's Lee Seung-hun competes in the men's freestyle skiing freeski halfpipe final during the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games in Yabuli, in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Feb. 8. AFP-Yonhap

In snowboard, the 18-year-old Lee Chae-un won the men's slopestyle gold medal with 90.00 points, while another South Korean, Kang Dong-hun, got the bronze with 74.00 points.

Lee won the 2023 world title in halfpipe about a month before turning 17. He hadn't initially signed up for the slopestyle at the Asiad before changing his mind at the last minute.

Lee will try to win his second gold medal in halfpipe, with the qualification runs set for next Wednesday, followed by the final the next day.

Also on Saturday, Kim Kyeong-ae and Seong Ji-hoon teamed up for silver in the mixed doubles curling event. Gim So-hui took silver in the women's alpine skiing slalom event.

With seven gold, five silver and seven bronze medals, South Korea sits in second place in the medal table behind China. The host country collected eight gold, eight silver and four bronze medals on Saturday. (Yonhap)