Figure skater Lee Hae-in finishes 5th in final pre-Olympic competition
Korea's Lee Hae-in performs in the women's free skating during the ISU figure skating Four Continents Championships 2026 in Beijing, Friday. AFP-Yonhap
Figure skater Lee Hae-in finished fifth in her final pre-Olympic event in China, Friday.
Lee ended the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships with 192.66 points at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing.
She earned 125.60 points in the free skate, her second-highest score at an international competition this season, after establishing a new season best with 67.06 points in the short program Thursday.
The Four Continents championships are open to non-European skaters, with those from Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania eligible.
Lee won the Four Continents title in 2023, a year after winning silver. Lee finished second in the national team trials for the Milan-Cortina Olympics earlier this month, behind Shin Ji-a, as they both secured their first trips to the Winter Games.
Shin finished sixth overall with 185.06 points. She had been in 14th place after a mistake-filled short program with 53.97 points but bounced back with a solid free skate that netted her 131.09 points, the fifth-best mark among the 22 skaters in action.
Yuna Aoki of Japan won the competition with 217.39 points to beat out two countrywomen who will compete in the Olympics, with Ami Nakai finishing second with 215.78 points and Mone China taking home the bronze with 202.23 points.
Lee struggled with many of her jumps in the free skate, losing points for underrotating on a triple loop, a triple lutz and a triple flip. On the last two of those jumps, Lee was also called for not having a proper edge on her takeoff.
Shin, who had fallen twice in the short program, hit the ice once in the free skate -- on a triple loop -- but executed all the other elements cleanly.
The third South Korean competing in Beijing, Yun Ah-sun, finished 14th with 160.74 points.
The Four Continents will continue with the men's singles short program Saturday, followed by the free skate Sunday. For South Korea, two Olympic-bound skaters, Cha Jun-hwan and Kim Hyun-gyeom, will take the ice on the weekend.
Cha is the 2022 Four Continents champion who also won silver in 2025 and bronze in 2024.