▲ Choi Ha-bin performs during his free skate.
Promising men's singles figure skater Choi Ha-bin (Hankwang High School) has claimed the bronze medal at the 2026 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Junior Grand Prix Series 4, landing on the podium for the second consecutive event.
On the 19th (KST) at the Ümitköy Ice Skating Rink in Ankara, Turkey, Choi scored 125.23 points in the men's singles free skate, comprising 62.29 points in technical elements (TES) and 64.94 points in program components (PCS), minus a 2-point deduction.
Having scored 69.66 points in the short program the previous day, Choi finished with a total score of 194.89 points, taking third place behind Japan's Daiya Ebihara (216.66 points) and Ukraine's Yehor Kurtsev (201.95 points).
Having won the gold medal at the second event last month, Choi secured medals in two successive competitions, accumulating 26 ranking points and putting himself in a favorable position to advance to the Grand Prix Final.
Yoo Dong-han (Surim High School), who competed alongside Choi, experienced a disappointing fall on two jumps but set a new ISU personal best with a total score of 187.82 points, ranking 5th.
Choi, who had aimed for a comeback victory after finishing second in the short program the day before, was tripped up by struggles with his quadruple jumps.
Suffering two falls during his quadruple jumps, Choi had to settle for the bronze medal with a score 51.52 points lower than his previous ISU personal best of 246.41 points set at the second event.
Choi had an unstable start on his first jumping element, the quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination (15.70 points), receiving a 0.82-point deduction in grade of execution (GOE) due to an under-rotation call on the toe loop.
He fell on his second jump, the quadruple lutz (11.50 points), losing 5.75 points in GOE, and also sat down on the ice during the subsequent quadruple toe loop (7.60 points), forfeiting 3.80 points in GOE.
After catching his breath with a change foot combination spin (Level 3) and a flying camel spin (Level 4) following the early jumping errors, Choi successfully landed a triple axel (8.80 points) in the bonus section to earn 0.91 points in GOE.
However, while executing a sequence featuring a triple axel followed by a double axel and an Euler-triple salchow, the double axel, Euler, and triple salchow were all treated as invalid elements, leaving him with only the points for the initial triple axel (8.80 points) and a 3.54-point deduction in GOE.
Choi also experienced a slightly shaky landing on his triple lutz (6.49 points), losing 0.17 points in GOE, before concluding his routine with a choreo sequence and spin.
(Photo: Captured from ISU SNS, Yonhap News)
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