The growth of ‘Yeon-ah Kids’ brings laughter to the Korean figure skating world.
‘Post Yuna Kim’ figure skaters Lee Hae-in (18, Sehwa Girls’ High School) and Kim Ye-rim (20, Dankook University) stood side by side on the podium on the international stage. On the 11th (Korean time), at the International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Championships held at Broadmoor World Arena in Springs, Colorado, USA, they won gold and silver medals side by side.
Lee Hae-in won the gold medal in the women’s singles event in 14 years after Kim Yu-na. Departure was uneasy. She made mistakes in her short program. In the triple lutz-triple toe loop combination jump, a quarter landing (when the number of jump rotations is less than 90 degrees) was judged. Even in the triple flip jump, she was only 6th (69.13 points) as her attention (beware of edge use) did not score additional points.
But she made a twist. She gave a flawless performance in the free skating. As she handled all 13 performance tasks neatly, she scored the season’s highest score of 141.71 points and rose to first place with a total score of 210.84 points. She shook off the regret of last year’s runner-up in this event and at the same time won a gold medal for the first time in an ISU major senior event.
growing up step by step In September 2019, at the age of 14, Lee Hae-in won the 3rd and 6th ISU Junior Grand Prix in a row, advanced to the Grand Prix Final, and received attention as the ‘future of Korean figure skating’. He ranked 10th and set the record of ‘Korea’s Youngest World Figure Skating Top 10’. Although she failed to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, she was undefeated. He finished 7th at the World Championships in March last year and 4th at both the Senior Grand Prix this season, but he spread his wings again in this competition.
After winning the gold medal, Lee Hae-in said, “I participated in this competition with the idea of focusing on the process rather than the result. Forgetting the disappointing score in the short game and showing everything I can do in the free game, I am really happy and a valuable medal.”
‘Figure skating general’ Kim Ye-rim is also off to a good start this season. In November of last year, he placed second at the 3rd ISU Senior Grand Prix and won his first medal at the Senior Grand Prix. In the 5th Grand Prix competition, she won the gold medal and won the right to participate in the final competition, which is the ‘Wangjungwangjeon카지노‘, and led to the first Grand Prix gold medal and advance to the final since Kim Yu-na in the 2009-2010 season.
In this competition, she placed first in the short program and second place (209.29 points) after making a jump error in the free skating, but improved from last year’s bronze medal at the Four Continents Championships.
Kim Ye-rim said through All That Sports, “I won the silver medal after the bronze medal last year, and I am satisfied that I am improving. She said, “I will prepare hard and do my best so that there will be no regrets for the World Championships in March.”
Korean figure skaters are laughing at the growth of athletes called ‘Post Yuna Kim’.