Lee Shi-hyung, Lee Hae-in silver signal resurgence

At this year’s Figure Skating World Championships, Cha Jun-hwan and Shin Jia fulfilled audience expectations with flawless performances to win the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively.

In addition, Lee Si-hyung and Lee Hae-in, who had been struggling until the last competition, rebounded to win the men’s and women’s silver medals, respectively. In addition, Min Seong-kyu and Kim Chae-yeon overcame their short program slump and excelled in the freeskating to win the men’s and women’s bronze medals, respectively.

On Sunday, Cha Jun-hwan scored 89.35 technical elements (TES) and 90.08 composite elements (PCS) for a total of 179.43 points in the men’s single free skate at the 78th Figure Skating World Championships at the Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Center in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do. Cha, who had scored 96.51 points in the short program the previous day, finished with a total of 275.94 points to win the title ahead of Lee Si-hyung (241.05 points) and Lee Min-kyu (232.62 points).

This was the eighth consecutive all-around title for Cha, who first won the event in 2017 as a junior in middle school.

Despite recovering from an ankle injury sustained in October last year, Cha showed his mettle in the competition, landing a quadruple salchow (four rotations) and a triple axel (three and a half rotations) jump.

Lee Si-hyung, who won the silver medal, also overcame an injury to retain his spot on the national team. He landed quadruple toeloop jumps in both the short program and free skate while recovering from his injury.

Earlier, Lee was in danger of missing out on the national team after finishing ninth at the 2023 KB Financial National Men’s and Women’s Figure Skating Championships, but his comeback at the event drew cheers from the crowd.

The bronze medalist was sixth in the short program, but her second-place finish in the free skate helped her to a third-place finish. In his short program, he fell on his triple axel and lost a lot of points, but in his free skate, he made it back up to the podium.

In the women’s singles, Shin Jia scored 149.28 points in the free skate for a total of 218.36 points to win her second straight title, ahead of runner-up Lee Hae-in (205.84 points).

Despite a step-out error on her triple lutz jump in the short program, Shin put on a flawless performance in the free skate.

Lee Hae-in won the silver medal for her outstanding performance at the event. Previously, Lee had a somewhat lackluster performance at the President’s Cup, finishing in seventh place, but this time, she performed without any major mistakes such as falls or step-outs.

Kim (205.33 points) fell on her triple lutz jump in the short program and finished ninth, but her flawless free skate earned her a third place finish.

Meanwhile, the results of the 78th World Figure Skating Championships have been announced for the World Championships and World Junior Championships.

Cha Jun-hwan will compete at the World Championships alongside Lee Si-hyung and Kim Hyun-gyeom. Due to an age restriction (competitors must be 17 years old or older), Min Min-kyu will compete at the World Junior Championships, while fourth-place finisher Kim Hyun-gyeom (229.5 points) takes the remaining World Championship berth. Fifth-ranked Lee Jae-geun will compete at the World Junior Championships alongside Min Seong-kyu.

Similarly, Shin Jia, born in March 2008, won the World Junior Championships instead of the World Championships. She will compete alongside fourth-place Kim Yoo-seong and fifth-place Kim Yoo-jae. Lee Hae-in and Kim Chae-yeon qualified for the World Championships. One of the three World Championship berths went to seventh-place Yoo Young (195.96 points). Sixth-ranked Kwon Min-sol is also ineligible to compete at the World Championships due to age restrictions.

Yoo has been plagued by injuries since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and lost her spot on the national team last season. This season, he has bounced back to regain his place on the national team.

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