Viktor Ahn, pictured leading at the 2015 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, will seek further medals at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games as part of the Russian team ©Getty Images

Viktor Ahn, the world's most successful Olympic short track speed skater with six gold medals, will have the opportunity to seek more at next year's Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang after being named in the Russian team.

Anna Maksimenko, the head of the Russian short track team, told Russian news agency TASS that the 31-year-old former South Korean athlete was on the official Olympic training team roster which will shortly begin preparations for the winter season.

"The Olympic training men's team roster includes Viktor Ahn, Semyon Yelistratov, Denis Airapetyan, Pavel Sitnikov, Artyom Kozlov, Alexander Shulginov, Vladimir Grigoryev and Artyom Denisov," said Maksimenko.

She added that the women's Olympic training team in short track includes Sofia Prosvirnova, Yekaterina Yefremenkova, Yekaterina Konstantinova, Yulia Shishkina, Yevgeniya Zakharova, Emina Malagich, Tatiana Borodulina and Vera Rasskazova.

Former South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Viktor Ahn will seek to add to his six titles when he represents Russia at next year's Pyeongchang Winter Games ©Getty Images
Former South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Viktor Ahn will seek to add to his six titles when he represents Russia at next year's Pyeongchang Winter Games ©Getty Images

"The team will begin its training session for the World Cup in Novogorsk on August 20," she said.

The first stage of the International Skating Union Short Track World Cup season will be held in Hungary’s capital Budapest between September 28 and October 1.

Ahn, born in the South Korean capital of Seoul as Ahn Hyun-Soo, won three golds and a bronze as part of South Korea's short track team at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.

After the 2006 Games injuries kept him sidelined from major short track competitions, and he failed to qualify for South Korea's team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

In 2011 he was granted Russian citizenship and announced his decision to skate for his new country at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where he won three gold medals and one bronze.

He is also a six-time overall world champion, winning the titles from 2003 to 2007 and in 2014.

Russia's place at Pyeongchang 2018 could yet be under threat as the International Olympic Committee continues to investigate doping allegations.