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Asian Games gold medalist Kim Chae-yeon takes off for World Figure Skating Championships

Published: 23 Mar. 2025, 16:26 Updated: 23 Mar. 2025, 17:06

PAIK JI-HWAN
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Figure skater Kim Chae-yeon trains at Taereung International Skating Rink in northern Seoul on March 11. [YONHAP]

Asian Winter Games gold medalist Kim Chae-yeon jetted off to the United States on Sunday ahead of the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, which start on Tuesday.

Kim, 18, will compete in the short program on Thursday and free skate on Saturday on the back of her successful run this year, during which she earned gold medals both at the Asian Games and Four Continents Figure Skating Championships last month.

Another medal at the upcoming world championships would be her second medal at the tournament after her bronze in the 2024 edition, which made her the third Korean to stand on the podium in the tournament after figure skating legend Kim Yuna and Lee Hae-in.

A gold medal at this year’s world championships would make Kim Chae-yeon the second Korean competitor to top the podium after Kim Yuna in 2013 and cut a three-year gold medal winning streak from Kaori Sakamoto of Japan in the women’s singles.

Three-time world champion gold medalist Sakamoto is joining this year’s competition again alongside other medal favorites across the world.

Kim competed alongside Sakamoto during the Asian Games last month and surpassed the eventual silver medalist.

Kim’s medal would also stretch Korea’s medal winning streak in the women’s singles to three years after Lee’s silver in 2023 and Kim Chae-yeon’s bronze last year.

Kim has secured medals from every major international competition but the Winter Olympics.

Over in the men’s competition, fellow Asian Games gold medalist Cha Jun-hwan is also set to participate after winning gold at the Asiad and silver at the Four Continents Championships.

Cha saw success at the world championships in 2023, where he became the first Korean male figure skater to stand on the podium with a silver medal.

The upcoming world championships not only has coveted medals on the line, but will also determine the number of entries each country will be allotted in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]