i hope you like figure skating

First day of tryouts, Ye accidentally sent Kihyun to another rink on the opposite side of Montreal so she thought he hated her. Ye says that at first he felt bad but now he sometimes thinks about that and laughs.

Kihyun trained with Igor Shpilband and Logan Bye for a bit

Kihyun translates the Korean comments Kim/Quan gets to Ye

They’ve been partners for a month!

It's a new season and a new olympiad, so let's check into one of the biggest federation's women's field!

Isabeau Levito/Alysa Liu/Amber Glenn

Now that all three of the Blade Angels have confirmed that they're competing next season, I think that they are definitely going to continue dominating the American Women's field as they have much higher seasons and personal bests! I would bet good money on them being the 2027 US Nats women's podium as well as the Tampere Worlds team.

Isabeau Levito

Coach: Yulia Kuznetsova, Otar Japaridze, Slava Kuznetsov

Isabeau's thirsty for blood. Despite having the highest scoring season of her career (this was her first season where she never scored under 200), Isabeau barely didn't qualify for GPF due to having the misfortune of getting assigned to a stacked GPdF lineup, had an unfortunate fall during the Olympics where every other girl brought their best that costed her a position within the top ten, and was justttt off the podium for the THIRD time at Worlds. Isabeau's definitely the most underrated out of this trio despite her NEVER being lower than 4th at Worlds, and I think that combined with the Olympics lit a fire inside of her and that 3Lz+3Lo at Worlds was proof.

Isabeau's biggest problem her toe jump technique. Isabeau is a known flutzer, has some UR issues, and she slows down significantly before taking off on a toe jump (though this is gotten less and less bad). People have also commented about her very Eteri-girl technique that involved hunching her entire back forward (pictured below). Some people have used this to express genuine concern considering her idol, Evgenia Medvedeva, had very similar technique and now struggles with permanent back injuries; others have used this to concern troll Isabeau, but either way, it makes her jumps look more labored and results in lower GOE for her lutzes and flips in particular.

(Isabeau's 3Lz takeoff position vs Yuna Kim's 3Lz takeoff position)

That being said, Isabeau makes her technique work and has pretty good consistency on all of her jumps, does very difficult transitions in and out of jumps, and she has very nice edge jumps, especially her 2A and 3Lo! Her biggest strength however, is her artistry and spins. Isabeau is very flexible, expressive, and while a lot of skaters look like they're flailing their arms, Isabeau has beautiful upper body carriage.

I'm so excited to watch Isabeau get better and her B E N O I T free skate to Pirates of the Caribbean sounds so exciting! I think her goals for next season should be to qualify for and medal at GPF and Worlds! Isabeau definitely has it in her and deserves more respect on her name.

Alysa Liu

Coach: Philip DiGuglielmo & Massimo Scali

What is there to say about our raccoon haired Olympic champion that hasn't already been said? I'd argue that Alysa and Isabeau have very similar ceilings and scoring potential, however Alysa's consistency and much better jump technique tends to get her higher GOE and more wiggle room from judges.

As a junior, Alysa had very small jumps that were extremely pre-rotated and relied on a lower body weight, but starting around COVID and especially post-retirement, Alysa's jumps have relied more on her muscles making them more powerful, bigger and more aesthetically pleasing imo (she has a beautiful running edge landing now! huzzah!) Even though she no longer competes a 4Lz, Alysa's highest scoring element is definitely her backloaded 3Lz+3Lo and she's revealed that she has restored 3A, though it wasn't competition ready in December. She's also one of the best spinners in the game right now, with incredibly centered spins that have great posture and show off her flexibility on top of her being an incredibly captivating performer with great musicality.

Alysa's greatest weakness is that she tends to slow down more into a long program and a lot of people attribute this to her skating skills, when in reality I think it's more of a stamina issue. Truthfully, I don't think she's significantly lacking in skating skills. Like its not her strong suit but comparing now vs pre-retirement, it’s she's clear she works a lot on edge drills with Massimo.

Alysa skates for the love of the game and seems to have worked hard to detach her idea of 'success' away from placements and medals so saying things like "I hope she medals at xyz comp!" feels a little wrong to me. I found a USA Today interview (sorry for using a TT link, couldn't find it on YT) where Alysa describes her goals as having faster spins, prettier jumps, and enough stamina so that she can do double runthroughs. So, for this next season, I hope that Alysa has the stamina of a horse and has the fastest spins in the entire sport.

Amber Glenn

Coach: Damon Allen & Tammy Gambill

Revealing myself to be a 30 for 30 truther, Amber Glenn is my 2030 Olympic Champion and I will take no questions at this time. Amber is the opposite of a successful junior-burnt out senior. Amber was 20 when she first medaled at nationals, 23 when she first landed her triple axel and won US Nationals for the first time, and 26 when she became an Olympian, the second oldest competitor after Romania's Julia Sauter. Very impressive considering 21 year old Amber was considering retirement after missing the 2022 Olympic team.

As a competitor, Amber's a powerhouse on the Grand Prix and at nationals. She's a 3x US Champion, medalled at 6/8 of her GP events this quad and is the 2024 GPF Champion. Her biggest strength is her athleticism and powerful skating style. Amber's 3A is glorious and insanely consistent, her jumps overall tend to be high very quality, and I've noticed that she generates speed very easily.

However, similar to Rinka, Amber has stamina, artistry, and consistency problems. Especially since she does a 3A in the beginning, it can use up a lot of energy for the rest of the program. While Amber has a very well defined on ice image as a womanly, athletic, and powerful skater (sidenote: this is also why I wish she'd drop those dramatic cover ballad programs she does quite often, I feel like it never matches her skating and she doesn't seems present during them. For example: her short vs free this season), like a lot of technical skaters, her programs can be a bit empty as she doesn't do as many transitions or choreography as her peers.

And of course, a discussion about Amber Glenn can't escape her consistency issues. I don't think Amber's ever put two clean skates together in one competition. Amber has been open about her mental health struggles and I deeply admire her for it. It's also very unfortunate that she tends to get into her head during major competitions like Worlds and the Olympics. (though I think it's important to state that Amber's improved soo much in this regard, I remember when her consistency and self-doubt issues were much, much worse, and I'm confident she's always working on her mental health).

All in all: Amber Glenn should win everything. She’s certainly capable of doing so.

Sarah Everhardt/Sophie Joline von Felten/Bradie Tennell

Sarah Everhardt

Coach: Tatiana Malinina & Roman Skorniakov

Sarah's had a rough season. When she first became senior, Sarah had Alysa Liu levels of consistency which was a massive help considering she's more of a technical skater than an artistic one. However, this past season, her underrotation problems have gotten worse and she wasn't as consistent. This is creates a compound effect with her artistic issues making her not as competitive as she is capable of being.

As for her artistry, Sarah's programs are either warhorses or strange and more unique. While I personally LOVE her weird girl programs (see: poor things), this puts her in a position where she's trying to sell something not palatable to the judges or the judges are comparing her to the hundreds of other warhorses they've seen. Sarah also has chronic blank performing face, which can take you out of a performance since why would you care about a program if it looks like the skater doesn't care either.

Still, I see Sarah being America's solid fourth lady this upcoming season and the third when Amber retires, especially if she gets better packaging and improves her performance skills. She'll definitely be within the 2027 4CC top five and maybe she’ll snag another worlds spot this season. Sarah's very young and I think her solid technique can keep her within the top of American ladies for long time.

Sophie Joline von Felten

Coach: Vladimir Petrenko & Elena Petrenko; formerly Boyko Aleksiev, Olga Ganicheva, Denis Petukhov, & Melissa Gregory

If we're talking about technical skaters, we can't not talk the only American with quad jumps, Miss Sophie Joline von Felten. SJVF is very interesting, she skated for her birth country Switzerland until 2023 when she moved with her mother to Boston and started representing the United States! If you've never heard of her before, that's probably because this will be her first senior season after dominating the American juniors.

SJVF's biggest asset is her 3A (and it’s her 3A is her best jump!) and 4S (fun fact, she's the first American woman to jump a 4S). Despite her insane tech content, her results place her within the middle of the juniors pack due to her struggling with the easier triples and non jumping elements. Concerning her missing her triples, SJVF's issue seems to be stamina as her jumps get worse and worse the further she gets into a program. Apparently, after 2025 JWCs, her coach (NOT THE PETRENKOS, IT'S BOYKO OR OLGA BUT I FORGOT WHICH ONE) made unsportsmanlike comments about how SJVF should have placed much higher and complained about Mao's scores and her 3A and 4T being URed but not called, so I feel like her previous coaching staff were very ultra C focused and neglected other parts of her skating, something seniors will not be kind towards.

She's recently announced a coaching change to the Petrenkos and I hope this will be a good change for her! Her jumps are definitely impressive but she'll be easily beaten unless she manages to increase her PCS and gain stamina to stabilize her non ultra C jumps. She’s probably going to go to 2027 4CC and I’d expect a top ten finish from her there. I can definitely see USFS pushing her more if Russian quadsters start being rewarded like they were pre-ban.

Bradie Tennell

Coach: Benoit Richaud & Jeremy Allen

Bradie's insistent that she is not retiring, but I'll be honest, considering her age and injury history, I wouldn't be surprised if she retires after this next season. I'm a little heartbroken Bradie only went to one Olympics. It was pretty clear that Alysa, Amber, and Isabeau were going to be the Milano-Cortina team but Bradie was not giving anyone an inch. If one of those girls messed up on the grand prix or US Nats, Bradie was going to take her spot and my god did she come close.

Earlier in her career, Bradie was more of a jumper and her greatest strength was her consistency, you could not knock this girl down. Bradie's artistry really flourished when she entered her B E N O I T, her Young and Beautiful short program was a beautiful plea for the 2026 Olympic team.

Bradie had the misfortune of peaking during the Russian quadster era and she often injured herself trying to chase bigger jumps (especially that 3A that never came...) but I want to remember the Bradie Tennell that got a team bronze in Pyeongchang, medal twice at 4CC (and was 4th this year!) and since US Nats does pewter medals, has never been off the nationals podium since 2018. Bradie has given so much to USFS and seeing her SP be underscored at nationals was such a spit in the face to all of her hard work (SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FOURTH IN THE SP!!)

Since Bradie doesn't have a GP assignment despite her meeting the requirements while repeatedly saying that she isn't retiring yet, I can see Bradie retiring at nationals this year and I am BEGGING USFS to give Bradie a proper send off.

Josephine Lee/Sonja Hilmer/Alina Bonillo/Logan Higase-Chen/Sherry Zhang/Elyce Lin-Gracey

I think that while those six girls are the most competitive internationally, the United States has a very very very deep field! I've spent so much time talking about the Blade Angels, Sarah, SJVF, and Bradie so I'm gonna speed run these next six girls.

Josephine Lee - Josephine had a crazy season a couple of years ago when she won the 2024 US nationals free skate and got the silver medal ahead of Sarah Everhardt and Isabeau Levito. Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to recapture that magic due to struggling during her free skates (i think she gets too in her head, especially at 2026 nationals), but she's a got great 3F+3T and she's so young! She has so much time to improve and maybe she'll surprise us again this year.

Sonja Hilmer - Sonja's the coolest. Sonja started representing the US internationally when she was 23, qualified for her first Nationals after 13 years, made custom artwork for the Milano team, and can jump counterclockwise and clockwise! I'd love to see her get a SkAm host spot but I think Sonja's competing more so domestically and at senior b international comps. Doesn't detract from her in the slightest.

Alina Bonillo - Alina's a very good technical skater (I believe she's working on a 3A or has a 3A but it's not competition ready) but she can get inside her head and that leads to some consistency issues. I'm very excited for her GP debut at Cup of China this year. I think Alina's who I'd place money on for surprising people.

Logan Higase-Chen - Logan's made her senior debut on Cranberry Cup and she's currently comfortably 3rd after the SP. Truthfully, I don't have much to say about Logan, but I think she's got a lot of potential! She's got a bit of work to do on her PCS, but she's pretty well rounded and I hope she has a length career.

UPDATE: Logan got bronze behind the Kim twins! I think it’s clear that she has a lot of work to do on her PCS since, despite having a higher BV and a clean free skate, she still couldn’t beat Yujae who had 3 falls but was still pulled out ahead due to being more well rounded.

Sherry Zhang - Sherry's probably got the greatest shot of making the 4CC team out of this group. She's a bit inconsistent but when her jumps work, she's on fire! Sherry's a very artistic skater with amazing performance abilities, she has so much energy and you can feel her emotions when you see her skate (you should watch her Turandot ChSq, she does an Ina Bauer right after a spiral before doing ANOTHER spiral, it's incredible). She's also very flexible leading to great spins. She's recently been admitted into Stanford and I hope she continues skating competitively!

Elyce Lin-Gracey - Elyce's biggest weakness is her extreme inconsistency. Elyce can score BIG (her PB is 213.33) and she's got great jump technique but she's declined a bit since last season. Hopefully she works on becoming more consistent.

And of course, we've got the rest of the women's field! Katie Shen's a great skater, though I've heard that she's giving pairs a try and my favorite underground US skater is YN Machida! They competed under the name Erica at nationals, but YN is a badass enby who learned all their triples in their 20s and is currently working on a 3A! Call me optimistic, but I totally believe they can do it. There's also Brooke Gewalt whose consistently made it to nationals the past couple of years, Anabel Wallace, and Alexa Gasparotto whose the first black woman to land a 3A in practice!

I believe that this season will continue the Blade Angels dominance but over the quad, we'll see some younger skaters grow and maybe even challenge them at the top!

I'm back! Let's talk about the rest of the Korean fields: starting with the men!

Link to women here :)

Cha Junhwan/Seo Minkyu

The singular worlds spot the Korean men have next year will be duel to the death between these two. (jk, unless...)

차준환 Cha Junhwan

Coach: Chi Hyunjung

Senior Titles: 2023 World Silver Medalist, 2025 Asian Winter Games Champion, 2019 GPF Bronze Medalist, 9x National Champion, 2022 4CC Champion, 2x 4CC Silver Medalist, and 2024 4CC Bronze Medalist.

Mr. Figure Prince with perpetually messed up ankles himself, Cha Junhwan!! Jun's been dominating and setting records for Korean men for almost a decade now and this might be the first time he's being challenged domestically.

Jun's had a very long career and a lot of fun lore to him! He a genuine celebrity in Korea for his success and good looks (they literally call him "the face" and "figure prince" lmao), an actor, and my favorite bit of lore is Jun skating for his freedom at the Asian Winter Games (he was eligible for military service exemption if he won gold -- and that he did!)

Jun's a very artistic skater, his man does NOT miss levels in his spins or step sequences!! Beyond that he has great skating skills, he's fast, has great ice coverage, and truly just glides across the ice. On top of that, Jun's a fantastic performer! His skating is very elegant and captivating and I feel like he has a wide range of performance styles as well.

The only place he lags behind a little bit is in jumping. He has a beautiful 4S and 4T, but a very shaky 3A. Jun also has a very persistent ankle injury that causes prevents him from chasing those big ticket jumps (ei. a 4F, 4Lo, or 4Lz).

I'm a bit worried for Jun next season. I think he'll be fine domestically, but the very narrow 4th place finish (ROBBERY HE SHOULD HAVE BEE 3RD AND HE KNOWS IT TOO) at Milano seems to have been very demotivating for him. He also seems to be busy doing pursuing other ventures like ice shows and acting again. This isn't to doom about Jun retiring but I also want to be realistic and honest about his career outlook, and if Jun decides he wants to retire this season or pull a Shoma and retire mid-quad, I'll thank him for the years of amazing performances he has given us.

서민규 Seo Minkyu

Coach: Kim Eunju & Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles: 3x South Korean silver medalist, 2x South Korean bronze medalist

I'm so excited for Minkyu senior debut!! On the junior level, he's the 2024 Junior World Champion, 2x JW silver medalist, 2025 JGPF Champion and the 2024 JGPF silver medalist. He had a rivalry with Japan's Rio Nakata that truly pushed both of them to be better (VERY STRONG YUNAMAO VIBES!!)

I'll paraphrase my GPF predictions post here but Minkyu's very similar to Jun, in which great skating skills, struggles with the jumps. Minkyu has great skating skills and artistry (specifically musicality) despite being so young. He definitely has some more room for improvement in his performance ability (I'd argue he's an artist but not really a showman yet) but the greatest thing holding him back is that he only has a 4S. He's posted videos of him landing a 4T in practice this offseason and I hope it's consistent enough for him to try over the season!

Truthfully, I don't see Minkyu surpassing Jun this upcoming season but I wouldn't be surprised if over this next quad, the KSU soon starts to promote Minkyu as Korea's top man over Jun and we start to transition out of the Cha Junhwan era of Korean men's skating.

Kim Hyungyeom/Cha Younghyun

김현겸 Kim Hyungyeom

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles: 2023 South Korean Silver Medalist; 2x fourth place at Korean Nationals

Hyungyeom's had a crazy last junior season. Despite not having much success as a junior, during the 2023-24 season, Hyungyeom began the 2024 Youth Olympic Champion in both the team and men's singles event. He got silver and gold at both his JGP events and got silver at grand prix final.

Unfortunately, that did not transfer into senior success as he got 18th at year's senior world championships and has middling results ever since.

Hyungyeom's just not a very refined skater. His technique leads to frequent underrotations, his lutz and flip edges aren't very clear, and he often misses levels on spins and step sequences leading to a slow death by a thousand cuts in points for him. He also only has a 4T and in a men's skating landscape where quads seem and consistency is valued very highly, these aren't the greatest traits to have. HOWEVER, Hyungyeom is very very very fast and has an explosive quality to his skating I really enjoy. I think a reasonable goal for him would be to try and impress at Skate Canada, try to medal at Nationals, and go to 4CC.

차영현 Cha Younghyun

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles: 2021 South Korean Bronze Medalist

Younghyun had a real standout moment at 2026 Worlds! After Jun withdrew, Younghyun had a chance to go to Worlds and despite getting 27th and not advancing to the free program, he went viral for his Irish dance step sequence to River Dance!

To be truthful, Younghyun's not exactly going to be a regular international competitor, but he's real joy to watch and he has the very cool hobby of being a traditional Korean tightrope dancer!

Like Hyungyeom, Younghyun's not very refined and he doesn't have any big ticket items like immense artistry or quad jumps but I think it's possible for him to eek out a second Four Continents entry!

And that's it for the men! The other two notable competitors Korea has is Lee Jaekeun and Choi Habin.

Habin's coached by Choi Hyungkyung and a son of Nathan Chen, jumping is his happy place and he is not shy about it! He's the first Korean athlete to have landed a 4Lz and is currently ranked number 1 amongst juniors (technically 3rd but 1 and 2 are Rio and Minkyu so I feel like it counts), but he's got another junior season within him.

Likewise, Lee Jaekeun, coached by Chi Hyunjung, got 5th at nationals (above Younghyun) and while he is eligible for senior competitions, the KSU assigns does not let skaters do split seasons (that's why Younghyun went to Worlds instead of Jaekeun). Since Jaekeun is still eligible for junior competitions and competed in the Korea junior grand prix qualification competition, he will be competing as junior the for upcoming season.

But wait! Have you noticed something across these two posts? Look at the coaches again...

Have you noticed that nearly everyone's coached by Chi Hyunjung or Choi Hyungkyung?

THE DOMINANCE OF CHI & CHOI

Chi and Choi have had a death grip on the Korean singles field for the past several years. During the 2026 Nationals, 77% (!!) of the field were coached by one of these two women. Individually, Chi is coaching 30% of the men, 35% of the women (33% of the field) and Choi is coaching 50% of the men and 42% of the women (44% of the field). Only 8 of the 36 singles skaters were not coached by Chi or Choi.

Both women have a very similar story, they were both former competitive skaters that skated at two world championships and were coached by Yuna Kim's coach from childhood and the end of her career, Shin Heasook. Chi even briefly coached Yuna herself during Yuna's junior debut season.

Chi's a bit more of an established coach and she focuses more on refining a skater, getting jumps consistent, and getting high GOEs on elements. Some qualities of her skaters are that they tend to be fast and have huge jumps. Her current students are Shin Jia, Lee Haein, Yun Ahsun, Lee Jaekeun, and Cha Junhwan.

Choi's rise is much more recent and she seems to be following the Eteri model, where her skaters have very fast progress and the camp has a focus on ultra Cs but these jumps tend to be small and overall don't have the highest GOEs. Currently she's coaching Choi Habin, Kim Hyungyeom, Cha Younghyun, Kim Yujae, Kim Yuseong, Youn Seojin, Kim Chaeyeon, Kim Seoyoung, and Seo Minkyu (though truthfully Minkyu's coached more by his mother). She also coached Kim Yelim and Lee Sihyeong!

Korean skaters tend to switch between the two pretty often but this coaching dominance have led to some things like packaging issues within the Korean field.

Perhaps the most common critique of Korean skaters I see as a whole, is that they are very similarly packaged. Packaging is the material skaters give and the ungraded presentational parts of skater's performance, ei. music, choreography, and costumes. In general, it seems like Chi and Choi have this image of an elegant and classical skater they project onto most of their students.

Here's an example of skaters having very similar packaging

These were Minkyu, Hyungyeom, Jaekeun, and Habin's costumes from LAST SEASON!! This is not a good thing when trying to make yourself stand out from your teammates or competitors.

It's also not the best vehicle when trying to showcase a skater's strengths as an artist and performer. While some are made for classical/classical sounding music, such as Shin Jia, Lee Haein, and Seo Minkyu, not everyone is suited to classical music and that's okay! You Young (who is NOT part of that cohort) is very well suited to dramatic movie soundtracks, pop songs and tangos and if she was only skating to Chopin, it would be a detriment to her performances.

Habin is an example of someone that I think got ill fitting music. Last season, Habin really came alive during his free to the upbeat, EDM remix of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack! In contrast, his short to Taegukgi didn't really suit his performance style. Habin's a very "loud", aggressive, and in your face skater but the cut of Taegukgi is very grand and all consuming with angelic vocals and dramatic violins layering on top of each other. This is music I would have given to Minkyu, not Habin.

This is definitely a problem that extends to the women as well, which is why Chaeyeon was so eyecatching! Chaeyeon immediately stood out with her edgier costumes and music choices as well as her choreography seeming to emphasize power more than other Korean skaters.

And that's the Korean singles field! The women are deep field and the men are starting to deepen, but unfortunately, I think it's getting a bit boxed in by how homogenous the coaching has become.

I don't think Chi or Choi are doing anything malicious or necessarily bad here, I just think when SEVENTY SEVEN percent of a national field runs through two camps, you're going to get some sameness whether you mean to or not.

What I'm hoping for this season from this field that more of these skaters and their teams start experimenting a little more with music and packaging that fits who they actually are as performers rather than the in-house style Chi and Choi seem to have. Give Habin music that suits his energy! Make the Kim twins distinct from each other! Don't dress your skaters identically to three other guys!!

Korea has so many amazing skaters with very distinct personalities and strengths from each other, and I'd love to see all of that get to be a little more distinct on the ice.

pray 🙏🏻 dirty house 🏚

educated 📚 hoe 🚂

a job 💰 gold digger 🏗

loyal 💍 5 kids 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

faithful 👼🏼 cheater 🖇

Help mom I'm scared of the Korean Women's field.

In all seriousness, Korea's had an insane rise in the past three decades! Here's a chart I made about it (sidenote: the lower line/number, the higher the placement is!)

Looking at the graph, you can tell that before 2007, Korean skaters didn't place very well, ranging from low 40s to around the 20s. The only skaters that placed higher than 20 were Jung Sungil in 1990 and 1991 (15th and 14th) and Lily Lyoonjung Lee in 1990 and 1992 (17th and 18th) and then hydrogen bomb Yuna Kim went senior and the rest is history.

Yuna's win in Vancouver (and success overall) inspired so many kids (but especially girls) to pick up skating and her domestic competitors to take skating more seriously. You can see how after Yuna, Korean women were justttt outside the top 10 until those girls inspired by her were old enough to turn senior.

For men, I think Cha Junhwan's success and popularity has tricked some people into thinking the Korean men's field is deeper than it is, though with Habin and Minkyu, the field is starting to flesh out more.

All's this to say that Korea's success is very recent and it's cool to watch a fed evolve before your eyes.

Let's start with the deepest field: THE WOMEN

Shin Jia/Lee Haein/Kim Chaeyeon/Kim Yujae/Kim Yuseong

These five ladies will have battle to the death at nationals to see who gets the 2 Worlds spots. These five are definitely the top, in that they're most likely to get two grand prixes and get international assignments but none of these girls are miles ahead another. For example, Jia smoked Haein at KNats (1st vs 5th) but Haein outscored her at the Olympics and 4CC. This adds a fun level of excitement if you're a casual fan and DREAD if you're a diehard.

신지아 Shin Jia

Coach: Chi Hyunjung

Senior Titles: 3x National Champion and 2025 silver medalist

My perfect angel daughter Jia!! The upcoming season will be Jia's second senior season and I think it can be a real breakout season for her! Jia's a K-Fed favorite and is a 3x national champion. At the junior level, she was a female Yuma Kagiyama (Youth Olympic silver, 4x Jr Worlds Silver, 2x JGPF silver)

Everyone had really high expectations for her senior career, but Jia really struggled internationally this season. Since the 2024-25 season, Jia's moneymaker (a backloaded 3Lz+3T) had a significant decline in successful landings (i'm guessing it's cause she finished going through puberty and her changing body affected the jumps), that was also the season her flip edge became really unclear too (which sucks cause she fixed it during 2023-24, ugh). That being said, Jia has beautiful skating skills, step sequences, and spins. Her GOE and PCS are rightful high and her stsqs and spins are almost always level 4 (+ they are GORGEOUS)

I'm very excited for Jia's second senior season!! I think Worlds was such a good and defining moment for her. I hope getting 4th in the free was a confidence booster for her and that it not being a senior debut and olympic year takes a lot of pressure off of her. Jia could unironically have it all if she gets a little more consistent.

이해인 Lee Haein

Coach: Chi Hyunjung

Senior Titles: 2023 World silver medalist, 2023 Four Continents Champion, 4x National bronze medalist, 2x National silver medalist

Ok so, it's really hard not to talk about Haein without mentioning her controversy. I won't delve into it, but the main thing you need to know for this post is that her suspension really messed with her momentum. (sidenote: this is not an endorsement or defense of Haein, I'm just trying to recap her career and let you know what type of skater she is) Haein went from being a world silver medalist, 4cc champion, and 6x K-Nats medalist before it to getting outside the top five of K-Nats and bottom ten of major international comps.

As for her skating, Haein's very expressive, has amazing step sequences (seriously, watch a Haein stsq and watch her edges), has landed pretty good 3As in practice but she loves an unclear flip edge and underrotating her 3-3. I think next season Haein can catch up to her to her pre-suspension momentum if she fixes her rotation issues, gets a little more consistent, and of course, a 3A wouldn't hurt either.

김채연 Kim Chaeyeon

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung, Lee Barkell, & Jeffrey Buttle

Senior Titles: 2024 World bronze medalist, Asian Winter Games champion, 2025 Four Continents champion, 2024 Four Continents silver medalist, 2025 National champion.

my shayla chae :( Chaeyeon was genuinely pacing herself to medal, if not WIN the Olympics, and she probably could have if it wasn't for that GODDAMN CAR CRASH.

Chaeyeon is a genuine prodigy, having started skating very late for an elite competitor. In 7 years, she went from a beginner to a World medalist. The next year, she became national champion before beating now 4x World Champion and 4x Olympic medalist, Kaori Sakamoto at the Asian Winter Games. Unfortunately, like 3 days before Boston Worlds, Chae was in a car crash that aggravated her a lower back injury she had. She fought really hard this season to make to the Olympics, but when she got 9th at Nats, she made the smart choice to take the rest of the season off.

Despite starting late (relatively), Chaeyeon has great jump technique and skating skills (this woman is SPEEDY and REFUSES to use flat edges). Chaeyeon's rise also had a lot to do with her jump consistency, she rarely makes mistakes (the most common mistake she makes is sometimes underrotating). Chaeyeon had really unique packaging for the Korean field (I'll get into this later) and the only "critique" I have of her skating is that she isn't a capital P Performer yet.

If Chae is fully recovered, she will be podium threat for every competition she enters. If she isn't, I hope she takes things easy to heal and get back into her 2024 shape.

김유재 Kim Yujae & 김유성 Kim Yuseong

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles (YJ): 2025 National bronze medalist

Senior Titles (YS): 2026 National silver medalist

Ahh the Kim twins, fun fact: they are NOT identical! The only way I can tell them apart is that Yujae is slightly taller and Yuseong's chin is a little longer. I'll talk about them together because their skating style / strengths / weaknesses are very similar. The Kim twins were very prominent juniors that will be going senior next season. While not as beloved as Jia by the K-Fed, they seem very interested in fostering the Kims growth! At K-Nats, Yuseong's been 4th, 4th, and silver; Yujae's been 6th, 5th, bronze, and 4th. Both of them tend to peak earlier, like on the Grand Prix and K-Nats but struggle at JWC (Yujae: 4th, 16th, 16th; Yuseong: 15th, 13th), so I have a good feeling for their Grand Prix debuts (sidenote: I wonder why Yuseong only got 1 spot while Yujae got two?)

Technically, both girls have inconsistent 3As and I read somewhere that Yujae is training a 4Lz, 4S, and 4T (so it's safe to presume that Yuseong is training those quads too) but to tell you the truth, their jumps are very small and rely on fast rotation instead of height/distance. This jumping technique tends to be pretty unsustainable in the long run, especially during and post-puberty (but maybe they'll improve me wrong 🤷‍♀️). Their techniques are a bit rough overall and tend to get them low GOEs, which is why I think they're training quads, it's the easiest way to increase your score without having to unlearn bad habits. The twins have pretty good spins and Yujae has good stsqs, but their skating skills and PCS lag behind their competitors a bit. However, they are improving! and it's not like they have terrible skating skills or artistry, it's just more notable when the Korean field tends to value skating skills a bit more.

KSU isn't like JSF or USFS, in that they let their A-team skaters skip 4CC unless they need more experience, but since Korea only has 2 Worlds spots and those spots are determined by Nationals and the Ranking Competition and the Kims do pretty well domestically, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the twins gets to go to Worlds and both goes to 4CC!

Overall, the twins have a lot of potential and there are a ton of directions they could go. They could focus more on their fundamentals, develop their artistry, or chase harder jumps. Personally, what I want most is for them to develop different styles from each other. Right now, every Yuseong program is a program Yujae could do and vice versa. I think getting different packaging from another (or more drastically different coaching teams) would be beneficial for them!

You Young/Yun Ahsun/Youn Seojin/Kim Seoyoung

These four girls could most definitely get a 4CC spot if they get impress at nationals.

유영/You Young

Coach: Choi Jieun & Tammy Gambill

Senior Titles: 5x National champion, 2020 Four Continents silver medalist, 5th at Beijing

You Young has suffered more than Jesus. Young became national champion at ELEVEN and her 3A gave a lot of people hope that she would be the second Yuna Kim (this was during peak Eteri girl quad era, so ultra Cs were viewed as increasingly important). Starting from 2019 to Beijing, Young was the top Korean girl, despite COVID messing with her season. Unfortunately, Young's father passed away right before her Olympic free skate but her family decided not to tell her to not affect her performance. Young's 3A was never consistent, but 2022 was when it got really unstable and when her underrotation issues got pretty bad. To me, it seemed like Young was hit with the double whammy of Tom Z & Hamada girl injuries and Tom Z & Tammy underrotations, but there was still a glimmer of hope with her Worlds performance.

However things were about to get much worse for Young's skating career. Young got wrapped into Haein's controversy and received a year suspension for taking and spreading inappropriate pictures of Haein, though Young and Haein both said that the photo was innocuous. Since Young couldn't afford to challenge the suspension, she was originally going to just take it, but she found out that the punishment included a lifetime ban from joining the Korean national team, causing her to pursue the legal route. Haein introduced her lawyer to Young and helped Young pay for her legal fees (apparently Young's family had financial troubles after her father's passing and the suspension caused her to lose her sponsorships and she had to do a variety of part time jobs), and during court it came out that Young hadn't even sent the photo of Haein to anyone. The court eventually sided with Young and she got to compete last season.

Essentially, that scandal caused Korea to lose two of their top skaters; Young specifically had to sit out a season and deal with a lot of unnecessary stress, horrible press, and lose her main source of income. Last season felt like Young was just trying to get herself on ice and luckily, she managed to get on the national team again!

Okay, but that's the past, what about her future?

Well, Young restored her 3A (though it's really rough and not in international competition shape); skating skills wise, she is FAST; and Young is never boring to watch. She's very musical and an amazing performer! I personally love when she skates to dramatic movie soundtracks. However, Young is an chronic underrotator with unclear edges and does not have the greatest skating skills, which will most certainly hold her back.

To be honest, I'm glad she's still skating at all and somehow found the motivation to continue despite all everything she's been through. I think a reasonable goal for her this season is to participate in a bunch of challengers and domestic competitions and try to medal at them. If she's very lucky/fixes her underrotationi issues, I think getting the 3rd 4CC spot would be a high to aim for!

윤아선 Yun Ahsun

Coach: Chi Hyunjung

Senior Titles: 2021 National silver medalist

There's nothing Ahsun loves more than inconsistency. Ahsun's technique is overall decent, with alright skating skills and spins. Her biggest struggle is with unclear edges on her lutz and flip and of course, her inconsistency.

Ahsun had a bit of momentum going into her senior debut year! She'd gotten 4th at JWC and had strong results in the Ranking and National competition. However, that was the year she got injured and her body started changing. As a result, her jumps became really unstable. She didn't perform well at all that season and has shown wavering results since. Previously, Ahsun got assignments like 4CC and Worlds because Korea had a lot of very talented junior skaters that we age ineligible to go to these championships, but with Jia and the Kim twin's getting old enough, that's no longer a lifeline Ahsun can use.

Ultimately, Ahsun getting international assignments depends on her getting more consistent and strengthening her elements, such as spins, stsqs, and jumps.

윤서진 Youn Seojin

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles: N/A

Seojin's training mates, the Kim twins, have rightfully stolen the juniors-turning-senior spotlight with their 3As and results, both international and domestic, but it's actually Seojin I'm most excited for! Seojin has the most BEAUTIFUL skating skills (i'd argue it's the best of the Korean field ever). Just watching the way she moves is glorious and she reminds me a lot of Rino Matsuike. That being said, like Rino, the trouble is the jumps. Seojin tends to do well in the short, but struggles in the free and gets a lot of edge calls. Seojin's a hidden jewel and I'm really glad she got a grand prix spot!!

김서영 Kim Seoyoung

Coach: Choi Hyungkyung

Senior Titles: N/A

Seoyoung's been a senior for a couple of seasons now, but she really caught my eye last season. Her programs were amazing (especially that Gladiator free) and until KNats (iirc), she had the highest season's best score among the Korean women. Seoyoung's just been quietly improving year after year, looking at nationals, she's never placed lower than the year before and she finally cracked the top ten at the past season. While I don't think she's a real contender for Worlds or 4CC this upcoming season, I think she has the potential to be a real force to deal with within the quad.

THE REST OF THE FIELD

Korean universities have a strict attendance requirement so most athletes will retire when they enter college if they aren't super successful. As a result, the rest of the field is mostly juniors. That being said, they are very strong juniors! I'd say that the most promising are Ko Nayeon, Hwang Jeongyul, and Huh Jiyu (who got bronze at last season's nationals and did very well at the last jwc!)

Korean women as a whole tend to be a bit inconsistent, which is why, despite the immense depth and talent in the field, Korea tends to only have 2 worlds spots and rarely be contenders for the Grand Prix final, but I'm hoping this very high level of competition will be motivating these ladies to focus on CONSISTENCY cause truly the top group all have the capability to be World medalists.

This writeup was definitely a bit harsher, but it's because I am such a fan. I'm already ecstatic for Yuseong's Evita free skate, Chaeyeon's flamenco short, and both of Jia's new programs!!

As a Korean person myself, I'm obviously really biased, but this field will always be very close to my heart; and as someone who only got into figure skating because my parents were Yuna fans, I can attest to the fact there is something so special seeing someone represent you, your heritage, and your family on the global stage and I can only hope that it becomes a reality for everyone <3

PS: The KSU livestreams and archives all of their domestic competitions except the men's and last group of women's nationals here for free and without geoblocking:

You can find the men's nationals and last group of women's nationals here: