Born in Orsha, Belarus SSR, Korotkevich won her first international medal representing the Soviet Union at the 1985 European Athletics Junior Championships, where she placed third in the discus – an event won by future Olympic champion Ilke Wyludda. Her senior debut for her nation came two years later at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, at which the 20-year-old placed tenth. Korotkevich did not progress much further until the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.