Lee June-hyoung finishes fifth in Junior Grand Prix

Lee June-hyoung

By Kwon Ji-youn

Figure skater Lee June-hyoung finished fifth in the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior Grand Prix (JGP) short program final in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday (KST), with a program component score (PCS) of 30.28, a total elements score (TES) of 28.14 and a one-point deduction.

Lee, 18, is the first Korean male figure skater to appear in the final competition, at which the top six scorers of the season’s Grand Prix series compete. No Korean male skater registered with the ISU has made it to the final before.

In August, Lee became the first Korean male skater to win a JGP event. In Courchevel, France, on Aug. 23-24, he received a score of 67.88 points in the short and 135.93 in the free to edge out Japan’s Sota Yamamoto by 8.01 points. Russia’s Alexander Samarin finished third with 179.16 points.

Lee’s performance in Barcelona was not as impressive as his appearance in France.

Three grade of execution (GOE) points were deducted from his triple axel, and his triple flip-triple toe loop combination jump and triple Lutz were downgraded for under-rotation and edge errors.

The PCS was on a par with that of other skaters, but his TES fell short.

Yamamoto finished first in the short program with 76.14 points, while China’s Jin Boyang was second with 75.30 points. Uno Shoma finished third with 75.21 points.

Lee began skating when he was seven. In 2011, he was selected for the Korean JGP team, and 2011-12 marked his JGP debut. He won bronze at the JPG in Milan, Italy, to become the first Korean male skater to win a medal in an ISU competition. In 2013, Lee scored more than 200 points at the Korean Nationals.

Follow Kwon Ji-youn on Twitter @jennajykwon