South Korea’s “next pillar” of figure women, Shin Jia (Youngdongjoong), won the 78th National Figure Skating Championships and the second national selection round with a “perfect performance.
Shin scored 80.66 technical elements (TES) and 68.62 artistic elements (PCS) for a total score of 149.28 points in the women’s single free skate at the Uijeongbu Ice Center in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do, on Sunday. She scored 69.08 points in the short program the previous day, giving her a final total of 218.36 points for first place. It was her second consecutive podium finish.
Shin, who was born in March 2008, will not qualify for the ISU World Championships, which are awarded to the top three finishers in the competition due to the International Ice Skating Union (ISU) age rule. She will compete at the ISU Junior World Championships in Taiwan next month.
Shin landed a double axel, triple loop, triple salco, triple flip-double toe loop-double loop combination jump, all cleanly. She landed her change foot combination spin at level 4 and didn’t falter in the second half of her run, which carries a 10 percent bonus.
Underin Lee (Sehwa Girls’ High School), who has struggled this season, finished second with a final total of 205.84 points. She qualified for the ISU World Championships in Montreal, Canada, in March. She won a silver medal at last year’s World Championships. In third place was Kim Chae-yeon (Surigyo) with 205.33 points.
The “twins” Kim Yoo-sung and Kim Yoo-jae (Sangpyeongchon) finished fourth and fifth with 200.73 and 198.47 points, respectively. Kwon Min-sol (Mokdong) was sixth with 197.03 points. However, all three were unable to compete at the World Championships due to age restrictions, as was Shin Jia. Yoo, who has been on a downward spiral since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, took seventh place with 195.96 points, earning her one remaining spot at the World Championships.
In the men’s single free skate, Cha Jun-hwan (Korea University) scored 89.35 points on the TES and 90.08 points on the PCS for a total of 179.43 points. He added a short program score of 96.51 to his total for a final score of 275.94.
He also qualified for the ISU 2024 World Championships, which is awarded to the top three men’s singles finishers.
Lee Si-hyung (241.05 points – Korea University) finished second, while Lee Min-gyu (232.62 points – Kyungshin University) was third. Min Min-kyu will now head to the Junior World Championships as an age-restricted player. The men’s singles at the World Championships will feature Cha Jun-hwan and Lee Si-hyung, as well as Kim Hyun-gyeom (Han AD), who finished fourth with 229.50 points.