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Korea’s Olympic-bound determine skaters pose for pictures after their joint press convention on the Jincheon Nationwide Coaching Middle in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, Jan. 7. Yonhap
Korea’s Olympic-bound determine skaters could have their closing tuneup earlier than the large competitors this week in China, as they are going to search to construct some constructive momentum heading into the Winter Video games in Italy.
The Nationwide Indoor Stadium in Beijing will host the Worldwide Skating Union (ISU) 4 Continents Determine Skating Championships beginning Wednesday.
The annual competitors is open to skaters from non-European nations, with these from Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania eligible.
Korea could have three skaters every within the males’s and ladies’s singles, plus its lone ice dance crew of Hannah Lim and Quan Ye.
The lads’s crew options Cha Jun-hwan, who has certified for his third consecutive Olympics, and Kim Hyun-gyeom, on the verge of his Olympic debut subsequent month. Their quick program is Saturday, adopted by the free skate Sunday. Cha is the 2022 4 Continents champion who additionally received bronze in 2024 and silver in 2025
Two of the ladies’s singles skaters in Beijing, Shin Ji-a and Lee Hae-in, will each make their first Olympic appearances this 12 months. Their 4 Continents will begin with the quick program on Thursday, with the free skate set for the next day. Lee received the 4 Continents gold in 2023, a 12 months after taking house silver.
Kim Chae-yeon, the defending ladies’s singles champion from Korea, pulled out of her title protection attributable to a decrease again harm and was changed by Yun Ah-sun.
Some international locations will not ship their Olympic athletes to Beijing — the mighty United States, as an illustration, will not have any of their six singles skaters who certified for Italy competing this week — however the Koreans determined to make use of the 4 Continents as a part of their Olympic preparations.
Specifically, Cha is predicted to make adjustments to his applications on the 4 Continents earlier than the Olympics, after being restricted many of the season attributable to a nagging ankle harm attributable to skate points.
Cha not too long ago stated he had gone by way of a pair per week over the previous three months in a determined search to seek out the one which match good. He had initially deliberate to try two quadruple jumps within the quick program and three quads within the free skate this season however diminished them to at least one and two, respectively, to stop harm.
Cha claimed earlier this month skate points and ankle pains are largely behind him and he’ll attempt to placed on a great present in Milan.
Shin, competing in her first senior season at age 17, received the Olympic trials handily earlier this month and can get to check her mettle in her 4 Continents debut.
Korea has produced no less than one medalist within the ladies’s singles at each 4 Continents since 2020.
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