‘Figure Skating Powerhouse’ Team Korea, Female Single-Ice Dance Junior World Medal Challenge
Expectations of Korean figure skating who swept the podiums of various international competitions in the 2022-2023 season will challenge the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior World Championships.
The 2023 ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships will begin on the 27th (Korean time) and will be held in Calgary, Canada until the 5th of next month.
In this competition, female singles Jia Shin (15, Yeongdong Middle School) Minsol Kwon (14, Mokdong Middle School) Yujae Kim (15, Pyeongchon Middle School) and male singles Hyun-gyeom Kim (17, Han Gwang-Gwang) Ice Dance Lim Hae-na 19)-Quanye (22) Jo and Jini Kim (16) , Gumi Middle School)-Lee Namu (16, Seongseo Middle School) will participate.
Jia Shin, who won her silver medal in women’s singles at the Junior World Championships last year, is aiming for her second consecutive medal. He won one gold medal and one silver medal in her two Junior Grand Prix events all season. In the Junior Grand Prix Final, which is the “War of the Kings,” she won the silver medal, her best performance since Kim Yu-na (33).
In particular, Shin Ji-ah has emerged as the ‘strongest in Korea’ by beating prominent seniors in her domestic competition this season. He won the president’s cup ranking match held in December last year. She also came out on top for the first time at the national men’s and women’s all-around championships held last month.
After winning the overall championship, Shin Ji-ah focused solely on preparing for the Junior World Championships. On the 26th, Kwon Min-sol, Kim Yoo-jae, and Kim Hyun-gyeom left for Calgary, Canada, and are currently undergoing local adaptation training.
The leading candidate for the women’s singles championship in this tournament is Mao Shimada (15, Japan). He won all of the two Junior Grand Prix events he participated in this season, and in the finals, he beat Shin Jia to reach the top.
Shimada, in particular, has the highest individual season peak of her season, both junior and senior in women’s singles. Her score of 217.68, received at the Junior Grand Prix Poland, is still the highest score in women’s singles all season.
Shin’s personal best score recognized by the ISU is 206.01 points (2022 Junior World Championships). Her highest score all season is 200.32, which she received at the Junior Grand Prix Final.
Shimada uses a triple axel and a quadruple (four rotations) toe loop. In a situation where Russian athletes were not allowed to participate in international competitions due to ISU sanctions, Shimada swept the junior stage with the most difficult jump composition.
On the other hand, Jia Shin has not yet attempted a high-level jump in a real game. However, later in the program, she got good results with her strategy of driving difficult jumps.
Although Shin does not yet have a triple axel or quadruple jump, she presents a program consisting of fairly difficult skill combinations. At the Junior Grand Prix Final in December last year, the score difference between first place Shimada and second place Shin Jia was 5.22 points.
Before leaving the country, Jia Shin expressed her feelings through her management company, All That Sports, saying, “While preparing for this competition, I tried hard to improve the perfection of the jumping and non-jumping elements. It would be best if I could play a clean game, but I want to play a game that I am satisfied with.” revealed
Kwon Min-sol and Kim Yu-jae are participating in this tournament for the first time. Kwon Min-sol won 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in the 2 Junior Grand Prix competitions this season and placed 5th in the finals. Kim Yoo-jae won the bronze medal by attempting a triple axel in the free skating at the 1st Junior Grand Prix held in Courchevel, France last August.
They also have a chance to enter the medal table if they perform games without mistakes in both the short program and free skating.
Kim Hyeon-gyeom is the only one participating in the men’s singles. He came in second after Cha Jun-hwan (22, Korea University) at this year’s general championships. With the triple axel, which has a higher success rate this season, he is challenging himself in this competition for the first time.
‘Hope of Ice Dance’ Lim Hae-na (19) – Quan-ye (22) Jodo also aims for a medal and victory at the Junior World Championships.
The team Haena Lim and Quanye won the first round of the Junior Grand Prix held in Courchevel, France last August. For the first time in the history of Korean ice dancing, those who reached the top in an ISU major event won a silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final, the ‘Wangjungwangjeon’ in December.
The contenders for the championship are Nadia Vashinska and Peter Beaumont (Canada), who are playing in their own home, and the Czech brother-and-sister team Katerina Mrazkova-Daniel Mrazek.
At the Junior Grand Prix Final, the Vashinska-Vermont pair won the championship, while the Mrazkova-Mracek pair won the bronze medal. 메이저놀이터
After finishing the championship, Hae-na Lim said confidently, “At the beginning of this season, my goal was to participate in the Junior Finals and the World Championships. Also, my goal was to be in the top 3, but now I want to be first.”
Lim Hae-na and Quan-ye sweated hard at a training ground in Montreal, Canada where prominent ice dancers gathered. Ahead of this tournament, they moved from Montreal to Calgary.
Jini Kim and Inamu Jo, who trained in Vancouver, Canada, will also move to Calgary to take on the challenge.
Meanwhile, the women’s single short program at the Junior World Championships will be held on the 2nd of next month.
