Seoul, Korea, January 11, 2022: One of Asia’s brightest winter sports prospects, Korean figure skater You Young, is on her way to her first Olympics.
The 17-year-old Winter Youth Olympic Games champion from Lausanne 2020 won the national trials in Korea on Sunday to book her ticket to Beijing next month.
It was her fifth national title, after winning it for the first time in 2016 aged 11 – one year younger than Korean legend Kim Yu-na, who won aged 12 in 2003.
The national trials in Korea were held over two legs in December and January – and You came out on top with a combined score of 430.08 points.
You, the 2020 Four Continents Championships silver medalist, won the second leg on Sunday with 221.49 points overall - 76.55 points in the short programme and 144.94 points in free skate.
Kim Ye-lim earned the second ticket in women’s singles with 413.46 points in the two trials events. She also finished second in the second leg with 207.64 points. Like You Young, Kim will also be skating in the Olympics for the first time.
In the men’s singles, Cha Jun-hwan is bound for his second straight Winter Olympics after winning the second leg with 283.31 points overall - 185.00 points in Sunday's free skate and 98.31 points in Saturday's short programme.
Cha, 20, had also won the first leg of the trials in December with 239.16 points. He had 522.47 combined points. He finished 5th at PyeongChang 2018.
Lee Si-hyeong finished second overall to grab the second and last ticket to Beijing. Lee scored 477.85 points combined after the two trials events.
Source: Yonhap News