Shin Ji-ah (15, Yeongdong Middle School), the ‘next-generation ace’ of Korean figure skating women’s singles, won a gold medal at the International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Junior Grand Prix competition, which she participated in for the first time this year.
Shin Ji-ah received 130.95 points, including 69.42 technical scores (TES) and 61.53 artistic scores (PCS), in the women’s single free skating at the 2nd competition of the ISU Figure Junior Grand Prix of the 2023-2024 season held in Linz, Austria on the 2nd (Korean time).
Shin Ji-ah, who received a total score of 201.33 points combined with a short program score of 70.38 points, won the championship by a whopping 32.96 points over Haruna Murakami (Japan), who came in second place with 168.37 points.
Minsol Kwon (14, Mokdong Middle School) won the bronze medal with 165.93 points.
Shin Ji-ah fell short of her personal best free skating score of 136.63 points (2022 Junior World Championships) and the highest total score of 206.01 points. Although he postponed breaking his personal best score until later, he achieved the highest spot on the podium in his first competition this season.
With this, Jia Shin won the ISU Junior Grand Prix for the second time after winning the 3rd Junior Grand Prix competition (Latvia) held in September last year.
Jia Shin won silver medals at the ISU Junior World Championships held last year and this year for two consecutive years. Shin Ji-ah, who returned this year with even greater growth, is close to being the ‘strongest junior’.
It is unclear whether Russia, the strongest country in women’s figure skating, will participate this season. Currently, the strongest figure skating junior women’s single is Mao Shimada (Japan), who won this year’s Junior World Championships. It is expected that Shin Ji-ah will compete with Shimada in the Junior Grand Prix Final and World Championships this season as well.
The fact that he stepped out during the landing of the triple flip jump and was unable to perform the subsequent double axel sequence was a mistake. However, he completed all elements without making any major mistakes and was the only participant to surpass 200 points.
Shin Ji-ah started the competition to British singer Buddy’s ‘Not about angels’, a new free skating program worked with Yuna Kim’s (33) former choreographer, David Wilson (Canada).
Ji-ah Shin, who started off with an easy jump on her first jump, the double Axel, also performed the following triple loop and triple salchow cleanly. Her triple flip + double toe loop + double loop combination jump was also unwavering, and she also earned a score of execution (GOE) of 1.21 points.
In the second half of the jump, where 10% extra points were given, Shin Ji-ah succeeded in a triple lutz + triple toe loop combination jump. In this technique, it received 12.46 points, including a basic score of 11.11 points and a performance score of 1.35 points.
However, he was slightly shaken when landing the triple flip and lost 1.06 points. She showed her wit by attempting a double Axel sequence on her last jump, a triple Lutz, but was pointed out for a quarter landing (when the jump rotation was short of 90 degrees) on her first jump, and lost 0.59 points.스포츠토토
Following the short program, the non-jumping elements were perfect. He recorded the highest grade of level 4 in all three spin elements (change foot combination spin, flying camel spin, and flying change foot combination spin). In the Coreo sequence, it achieved a high performance score of 1.57 points.
After completing this competition, they will return to their training site, the MF Academy in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and begin preparations for the 5th Junior Grand Prix competition to be held in Budapest, Hungary on the 20th.
Minsol Kwon, who received 165.93 points combined with the short program score of 50.1 points, moved up five places from 8th place in the short program and won the bronze medal. Last year, Minsol Kwon participated in two Junior Grand Prix competitions and won silver medals (Czech Republic) and bronze medals (Poland). In his first appearance this season, the Junior Grand Prix, he finished on the podium for the third time.
Meanwhile, Kim Hyeon-gyeom (17, Han Gwanggo), who came in second place in the men’s single short program, will compete in the free skating held at dawn on the 3rd, Korean time, and challenge for his first medal.
