You and Kim both finish in top 10 in women's figure skating

Olympic Sports

Published: 17 Feb. 2022, 23:43 Updated: 18 Feb. 2022, 00:01

You and Kim both finish in top 10 in women's figure skating

You Young performs her free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kim Ye-lim performs an Ina Bauer in the women's free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

You Young and Kim Ye-lim both finished within the top 10 as the women's figure skating competition at the 2022 Beijing Olympics rounded off with the free skate program at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Thursday evening.

You finished sixth, receiving an element score of 74.16 and a component score of 68.59 for a total of 142.75 points in the free skate, while Kim took ninth with an element score of 68.62 and component score of 66.24 for a total of 134.85 points.

You and Kim's results mark the first time that two Korean skaters have ever finished within the top 10. You’s sixth-place finish is the best in women’s figure skating since Kim Yuna won silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Not only did You and Kim achieve their goal of reaching the top 10, but both were able to pull off a clean run in their Olympic debut, showing great potential for their future.

Kim Ye-lim performs her free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

Kim was on the ice first, performing to Violin Fantasy, a piece from "Turandot" by Giacomo Puccini, for her four-minute long free skate program.

Kim started out her performance with the most difficult jump on her program, landing a clean triple lutz triple toe, adding a double axel triple toe combination and a triple loop, receiving extra points for adding a twizzle at the end. She then went on to land a triple flip, followed by a flying camel spin, receiving the highest level, level 4, for her spin.

Kim then landed a triple lutz, then followed that up with a triple salchow double toe loop double loop combination for her sixth jump. After a beautiful choreography sequence that matched her music, Kim landed her last jump of the Games, a two-and-a-half rotation double axel.

World No. 12 Kim had landed in ninth place in the short program on Tuesday with an element score of 35.27 points and component score of 32.51 for a short program score of 67.78 points. Her free skate score of 134.85 allowed her to keep that position with a total score of 202.63.

“It’s too good to be true and I am very happy,” said Kim.

“Of course, points and ranks are important at the Olympics, but that isn’t something that I have control over. I tried to focus on what I can do, which is a clean run. And I have, so that makes me very happy.”

You Young performs a split jump in the women's free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

You came on the ice in the last group, performing to "Les Miserables" by Claude Michel Schonberg. You started off her performance with a triple axel, but was later judged that the jump was under-rotated.

The triple axel is a three-and-a-half rotation jump and is one of the most feared and famed jumps in women’s figure skating. You had tried the jump on Tuesday for her short program, but the jump was downgraded by the technical panel, judging that it was under-rotated by more than one-fourth of a rotation.

However, You was able to rack up points with a triple lutz triple toe loop, a triple loop, double axel, a triple lutz single euler triple salchow combination and a double axel triple toe loop combination and triple flip, rounding off her first ever Olympic performance with a beautiful choreographic sequence and a level four combination spin.

You had entered the Games as the third-highest ranked figure skater in the world, and received 70.34 points for her short program on Tuesday, taking sixth place. Her free skate score of 142.75 allowed her to stay in sixth position overall.

“My scores were not the best but that’s okay because I am satisfied with my performance today,” said You. “I want to thank everyone for cheering for me and though it wasn’t my best performance, I promise to come back as a better skater in the future.”

You Young performs a Biellmann spin in the women's free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

Anna Shcherbakova of Russia took the gold medal after executing a practically flawless routine, with Alexandra Trusova, also of Russia, taking silver and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan taking bronze.

Kamila Valieva of Russia, by far the favorite to win the tournament, stumbled multiple times during her routine and fell down to fourth place. As a result, the flower and medal ceremony will be held as usual.

Had Valieva landed in the top three, the International Olympic Committee had decided not to award medals until investigations into possible doping involving the young Russian skater were resolved.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]