Park So-youn finishes fourth at Four Continents
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Figure skater Park So-youn competes at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday. /Yonhap
By Kwon Ji-youn
Promising figure skater Park So-youn broke her personal best to finish fourth at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday.
Park, 19, collected a technical elements score (TES) of 60.69 and a performance component score (PCS) of 56.74 with a one-point deduction in the free skate to finish with 116.43 points.
With the 62.49 points she received in the short program competition, she just missed the podium with 178.92 points.
Park bettered her personal best by 2.31 points at the Four Continents, an annual competition for non-European skaters. Her only major slipup came in her triple flip jump.
“I’m glad to have come this close to a podium finish,” Park said. “I did well in the short program, which put me in the last group of skaters in the free skate. This was a good experience, and I think I can improve on it.”
Choi Da-bin, 16, posted 116.92 points in the free skate to finish eighth overall with 173.71 points, and Kim Na-hyun, 16, followed in ninth with 170.71 points.
Gold went to Japan’s Satoko Miyahara, silver went to Mirai Nagasu of the U.S.; and bronze went to Japan’s Rika Hongo.