Figure Skating Rising Star Seo Min-gyu Wins First Gold Medal at Men's Junior World Championships

Min-gyu Seo (born in 2008, scheduled to enter Gyeongshin High School) became the first Korean male skater to win a gold medal at the International Skating Union (ISU) Junior World Figure Skating Championships.

On the 2nd, Seo Min-gyu scored a technical element score (TES) of 73.45, a program component score (PCS) of 76.72, and a total of 150.17 points in the ISU men's singles free skating held at the Taipei Arena in Taiwan. Combining this with his short program score of 80.58 points, which placed him first two days earlier, Seo achieved a total score of 230.75 points to win the gold medal. He edged out Japan's Rio Nakata (229.31 points) by 1.44 points.

Seomin Gyu [Photo by Yonhap News]

Seo Min-gyu is the first Korean male figure skater to win a gold medal at the World Championships, including both junior and senior levels.

Cha Jun-hwan, the leading Korean male singles figure skater, won his first medal, a silver, at last year's World Championships. During his junior years, Cha's best result was 5th place in 2017.

This is the first gold medal at the Junior World Championships in both men's and women's categories since Yuna Kim in 2006, marking an 18-year gap.