Do Je-hae edits news stories as part of the AI team.
A worthy 5th place
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Park So-youn competes in the ladies short program at the Skate America figure skating event Saturday in Hoffman Estates, Ill. / AP-Yonhap
By Do Je-hae
Park's Skate America result signals podium finish in near future
This is the first in a column series accessing post-Sochi
figures skating season. — ED.
By Do Je-hae
Skate America concluded earlier this week in Chicago, with Russians dominating the marquee event — the ladies competition. Korea’s Park So-youn just missed the podium, finishing fifth with near clean performances in the short and long programs.
Korean media has a tendency to disregard athletes who come home from an international competition without a medal. In accessing the 18-year-old’s Skate America debut, some newspaper headlines were asking what Park had done wrong. This kind of hasty approach is discouraging and disrespectful to the skater.
If anything, Park deserves a good pat on the back for delivering poised programs that made her the only Asian in the top five at Skate America, one of the most prestigious international events in the sport and the first major competition in the post-Sochi season.
The sheer fact that she was invited at all means that there is some hope left in Korean ladies’ figure skating after 2010 Olympic champion Kim Yu-na’s retirement.
Skate America is one of the six competitions in the Grand Prix circuit. Former champions have included luminaries like the 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi and five-time world champion Michelle Kwan and Kim Yu, who won the event twice in 2008 and 2009.
A fifth place finish is a great job for the inexperienced Park. It is the highest any Korean has ever placed at Skate America after Kim. With two sophisticated programs by the Canadian choreographer David Wilson, Park’s artistry and presence was very much reminiscent of Kim’s early years in the senior division.
Park arrived at the Incheon International Airport Tuesday, looking cheerful and proud of her accomplishment at Skate America. “It was the first big event of the season. I’m happy that I was able to get over 170 points,” Park said. “I will try to improve from this experience and deliver better performances in the future.”
Her next Grand Prix schedule is in Russia at the Rostelecom Cup starting Nov. 16, where the 2014 Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova will compete for the first time since a judging scandal in Sochi that ultimately placed her ahead of Kim.
Advanced jumping strategy
This is a great time for Russia in ladies figures skating. A host of teenage girls from Russia, a traditional frontrunner in pairs, ice dancing and the men’s events, are bringing home more medals than ever before. The reigning Olympic champion is Russian. Russia also took the gold in the ladies’ team event in Sochi. As expected, another Russian prodigy Elena Radionova took the Skate America title.
As Park prepares for the next Grand Prix event which takes place in Russia, what can she do to catch up with the Russians?
Her two programs in Chicago showed that Park is a mature performer and a highly-skilled technician, much like her idol Kim. In particular, Park has a very strong, tight rotation and clean landing, while retaining elegance in her jumps. That is a mark of a good skater.
But if she wants to outdo the Russians and become an elite skater at an international level, she needs to advance the difficulty in her jumping strategy.
The Korean coaching staff made a mistake when they had Kim repeating the salchow jump in the long program in Sochi, and it seems they are doing the same with Park. Both of her jump combinations in the long started with the salchow. The Russians are doing combinations that are way more difficult and worth more points, like the lutz-toe or the lutz-loop combinations.
Park’s strength over the Russians is her musicality and artistry. She seemed to flow with the music — Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens in the short and Romeo and Juliet by Abel Korzeniowski.
Her colleague Kim Hae-jin is making her senior Grand Prix debut this weekend. The three-time Korean champion will compete at Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, which will take place Friday through Nov. 2. It will be interesting to see how Kim does at Skate Canada International, one of the most recognized international skating events in the world.
The first Asian woman to win this event is the pioneering Japanese skater Midori Ito, first lady to land the triple axel in competition. Ito took the title in 1984. No Korean has yet to medal in this event except for Kim in 2006.