Rivalries to heat up figure skating nationals
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Park So-youn, left photo, and Kim Hae-jin perform during the women’s single short program at the Iceberg Palace at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, on Feb. 20, 2014. / Yonhap
By Kwon Ji-youn
A host of young figure skaters will compete at the 2015 Korea Figure Skating Championships, also known as the Nationals, this week, where legend Kim Yu-na will appear as a presenter.
From Jan. 7-9, promising figure skaters including Park So-youn, Kim Hae-jin, Lee June-hyoung and Kim Jin-seo will take to Mokdong Ice Rink to vie for the national champion title. The event will also serve as part of a draft for members of the national team ahead of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating Championships in March.
Park, Kim Hae-jin and Kim Jin-seo are coming off successful ISU Grand Prix campaigns, where all three failed to claim medals but eased worries that Kim Yuna’s retirement had left the country high and dry.
Park in particular delivered solid performances at the Skate America and Rostelecom Cup events, finishing fifth at Skate America with a score of 170.43 to become the only Asian country in the top five. At the Rostelecom Cup event, she finished fifth once again with a score of 163.24.
Park has settled for silver at the Nationals for the last three years, but in December at the Korea Skating Union (KSU) President Cup Ranking Competition, which also serves as a national team member draft, she topped the podium for the fourth consecutive year.
This year, she is expected to give Kim Hae-jin fierce competition for the national title ― Kim has claimed it three years in a row, from 2010 through 2012.
Kim’s performances at the Grand Prix, however, weren’t as impressive, and she finished eighth at the Cup of China event and ninth at the Skate Canada event. She did, all the same, rack up a free skate technical elements score of 44.98 at the Cup of China event, 0.68 points more than silver-medalist Yulia Lipnitskaya of Russia. The rivalry between the two 17-year-olds will undoubtedly be the highlight of this year’s nationals.
Last November, Kim Jin-seo became the first Korean male skater to make his senior Grand Prix debut after finishing 16th at the ISU World Championships, but his Grand Prix performances weren’t on a par with his usual accomplishments, with a score short of his usual 200 points.
At this year’s nationals, Kim, 18, faces Lee June-hyoung, also 18, for a ticket to the senior World Championships in March. Lee became the first Korean to claim gold at the 2014 Junior Grand Prix in France, and then followed with a bronze at the Croatia event to make the Grand Prix final.
Lee has consistently included the triple axel in his program, as has Kim Jin-seo. Both skaters have included one in the short program and two in the long program, and meticulously landing this jump may determine the winner this year. Kim won the 2012 and 2014 championships, while Lee won in 2013.
Male skater Kim Min-seok, the 2010 champion, will also appear in the nationals this year. Kim was the first Korean skater to land the triple axel in an ISU competition, and is expected to retire when this season comes to an end.
Kim Yu-na, the 2013/2014 national champion and 2010 Olympic Champion, will make an appearance on Friday at the nationals to present the medals, a year following her last official performance on Korean ice.
What’s more, this year’s nationals will bring pair skating back.
The KSU held try-outs last September to put together two teams for a pair skating exhibition competition. They sought foreign partners, as Korea is not home to as many strong skaters, and the teams have been training since November.