Meet Kang Jun-i, TV skateboarding prodigy turned Asian Games champion
Skateboarder Kang Jun-i, winner of the men's street event, holds up his medal during a press conference for at Korea House at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Monday. Yonhap
Kang Jun-i, 17, has won Korea's first-ever Asian Games gold medal in skateboarding, bringing renewed attention to his appearance on SBS' "Genius Discovery Team" seven years ago.
Kang scored 180.85 points in the men's street final at the 20th Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, finishing ahead of Japanese skateboarding stars Toa Sasaki and Ginwoo Onodera.
Street skateboarding involves riding a board on the kind of obstacles found in urban environments, such as stairs, handrails, rails, ramps and benches.
Korea's Kang Jun-i performs a trick during the men's street final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Sunday. Yonhap
This marks the first time a Korean skateboarder has won an Asian Games gold medal since the sport made its official debut at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Game. The country's previous best result was a bronze medal won by Eun Ju-won in the men's street event in 2018.
The high school student was overcome with emotion after his victory, saying, "It feels like a dream. I can't believe it." He went on to say winning gold at the Los Angeles Olympics would be his next goal.
Kang first picked up a skateboard at the age of 8. In 2019, when he was 12, he appeared on SBS' "Genius Discovery Team" as a skateboarding prodigy with 130 tricks in his repertoire.
On the show, Kang confidently introduced himself, saying, "I'm Kang Jun-i, and I want to become the world's No. 1 skateboarder."
Skateboarding prodigy Kang Jun-i appears on the SBS show "Genius Discovery Team" in 2019. Captured from SBS broadcast
Asked which tricks he was best at, he rattled off a long list, including ollies, kickflips, heelflips, frontside pops, frontside bigspin heelflips, frontside bigspins, frontside 360s and backside kickflips.
Throughout the show, he displayed a playful personality, saying, "I like amusement park rides, and riding a skateboard feels like being on one. As long as I have my board, anywhere I go becomes an amusement park."
He treated everything in the streets — stairs, handrails, benches and ramps — like amusement park attractions, effortlessly performing tricks such as board slides, ollies and 50-50 grinds.
Kang, who said on "Genius Discovery Team" that he was happiest on his skateboard, made history seven years later by winning Asian Games gold and setting a new milestone for South Korean skateboarding.
Having taken another step toward his childhood dream of becoming the world's No. 1 skateboarder, attention is now turning to whether he can continue his success at the Los Angeles Olympics.
This article from Xportsnews is adapted by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.