Gangneung, Korea, January 29, 2024: Kim Hyun-gyeom lit up the Winter Youth Olympic Games in his home country on Monday by winning the gold medal in the men’s single figure skating competition.
The 17-year-old skater built on his third-pace finish in the short programme two days earlier by skating to gold in front of a delirious home crowd in a packed Gangneung Ice Arena.
It was the first gold medal in men’s figure skating for Korea at the Winter YOG and cemented his name – and the legacy of the first Winter YOG in Asia – in Korean sports history.
Kim won with a total of 216.73 points, comprised of 69.28 from the short programme and 147.45 in the free skate – the highest total of all 18 competitors.
The silver medal-winner, Adam Hagara of Slovakia, was only 0.5 points behind on 216.23 - 75.06 from the short programme, which left him in second place, and 141.17 in the free programme, third best behind Kim and Japan’s Rio Nakata, who recovered from his short programme collapse to climb from 13th to sixth.
New Zealand’s Yanhao Li took the bronze medal with 208.84 points (68.01 and 140.83), while overnight leader Jacob Sanchez of the United States dropped from first to fourth and out of the medals with a total of 200.28 (76.38 and 123.90). His free skate was the sixth best of the afternoon.
This is the fourth edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and the first being held outside Europe. Korea's You Young won the women's single gold medal at the 2020 Winter YOG in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Kim is the first South Korean man to reach the top of the figure skating podium at the youth event.
*The women’s single figure skating will conclude on Tuesday with Japan in first and second place after the short programme and Korea third and fourth.
Shimada Mao is hot favourite to win gold after scoring 71.05 points in the short programme on Sunday. Her teammate Takagi Yo is second on 67.23, her personal best, and Korea’s new sensation Shin Jia is third on 66.48, ahead of teammate Kim Yu-seong with 63.64.