South Korean men’s figure skating has another new talent. Figure hopeful Lim Joo-heon (17, Surigao) won a silver medal in his first International Ice Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Junior Grand Prix competition.스포츠토토
Lim earned a combined score of 142.57 points, including 70.4 technical elements (TES) and 72.17 artistic elements (PCS), in the men’s single free skate at the fourth ISU Figure Skating Junior Grand Prix of the 2023-2024 season on Friday in Osaka, Japan.
Combined with his short program score of 75.38, Lim’s final total of 217.95 points placed him in second place behind winner Francois Pitot (FRA) with 219.86 points. Daniel Martinov (USA) was third with 207.98 points.
Last year, Lim missed his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut due to a broken ankle. This year, he returned to the ISU Junior Grand Prix stage in earnest and won a valuable silver medal on his debut.
At the National Championships in January, Lim finished ninth in the men’s singles. However, at the Junior Grand Prix Qualifier in July, he finished third, earning him a spot in the Junior Grand Prix this season.
In the short program the day before, he was the ‘surprise first place’. In the free skate, he made a few mistakes that prevented him from landing a clean program, but his overall performance was solid enough to earn him a silver medal.
For his first task, Lim attempted a triple axel + triple toe loop combination jump. He executed a triple axel with three and a half spins in the air and followed it up with a triple toe loop. His landing was a little wobbly, but he avoided any major mistakes and was not penalized.
The lone triple axel was also executed cleanly, earning him a base score of 8 and a GOE of 1.26 for a combined score of 9.26. The triple lutz + double axel + double axel sequence was also executed error-free, earning a GOE of 1.01.
For the second half of the jump, which is worth 10% extra points, she attempted a triple flip, but her landing was wobbly and she was given an Attention (!) for using the wrong skate edge. The subsequent triple lutz + double toe loop combination jump was landed cleanly. However, a quarter landing (lack of jump rotation at the 90 degree level) was noted on the triple loop.
The triple salchow was judged underrotated (jump rotation is more than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees) and deducted 0.98 points.
In the non-jumping elements, the flying change foot combination spin and change foot combination spin earned a level 4, the highest possible rating. He scored a level 3 for his change seat spin and a 1.57 performance score for his correo sequence, which had the crowd cheering.
After the competition, Lim raised his right arm in satisfaction and cheered.
His teammate Lee Jae-geun (15, Surigyo) earned a combined technical score of 60.84 and artistic score of 66.83 for a total of 127.67 points. With a combined score of 195.8 points, including a 65.76 in the short program, Lee finished in sixth place.
Earlier in the day, Hwang Jung-yul (13, Sangmyeong), who competed in the women’s single short program, finished fifth with a combined score of 61.09, including a technical score of 34.97 and a performance score of 26.12.
She is only 0.43 points behind fourth-place finisher Yu Peng-chai (Taiwan), who scored 61.52 points. She is 1.7 points behind third-place Aikura Kushida (JPN, 62.79).
Born in 2010, the young up-and-comer finished seventh in the women’s singles at the Junior Grand Prix Send-Off in July. She qualified for the ISU Junior Grand Prix stage this season and made a solid debut.
Her teammate Han Hee-soo (15, Sunil Girls’ Middle School) faltered on her jump and finished 15th with a score of 51.07. Han won a bronze medal in the first Junior Grand Prix competition on March 25. She competed in her second Junior Grand Prix of the season, but faltered with frequent mistakes and failed to match the 55.29 points she earned in her short program at the first competition.
Hwang will try to win a medal in the women’s single free skate on Saturday.