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Figure Shin Jia wins short program at Junior World Championships
Figure skater Shin Jia (ROK) raised her gold medal hopes with a first-place finish in the short program at the Junior World Championships.
Shin scored a total of 73.48 points, including 41.31 technical elements (TES) and 32.17 artistic elements (PCS), in the women's single short program at the 2024 International Ice Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Junior World Championships at Taipei Arena in Taipei, Taiwan, on Monday (Feb. 28).
With her new personal best in the short program, Shin placed first out of 46 athletes in the field. The previous personal best in the short program was 71.19, set at this event last year. She was 0.88 points behind second-place Mao Shimada (JPN) (72.60).
Shin Jia won silver at the last Junior World Championships in 2022 and 2023. This time around, she'll be going for gold.
The only other South Korean athlete to win a gold medal at the Junior World Championships is Kim Yeon-ah, who won gold in 2006. If she wins, it will be the first time in 18 years that a South Korean athlete has won gold.
Shin was the last skater to perform in the competition. Shimada, who took to the ice for the 45th time, was at the top of the leaderboard 토토 with 72.60 points.
But Shin didn't falter. She executed her first jump task, a triple flip-triple toe-loop combination jump, perfectly, and then landed a double axel with ease.
She then executed her triple lutz steadily and finished her short program with a flawless clean performance.
"I thought I would be nervous because it was the last event, but I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I think my experience at the Youth Olympic Games helped me to focus on each step," she said, adding, "Personally, I'm very happy with my performance this season, and I'm very happy to be ranked first in the short program for the first time at the Junior World Championships."
"In freeskating, I will try not to think too much and just focus on each skate like I did today," he said.
The free skating will take place on March 1, and Shin will compete in the sixth position in Group 4.
Her teammates Kim Yoo-sung finished ninth with 59.58 points and Kim Yoo-jae finished 18th with 54.98 points.