▲ Figure skater Seo Min-gyu of the men's singles (File Photo)
Figure skating men's singles rising ace Seo Min-gyu has claimed a bronze medal in his senior Grand Prix debut.
Competing in the free skating event at the 2026-2027 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Grand Prix Series 1st leg held at the IceParc in Angers, France, Seo scored 81.32 points in technical elements (TES), 80.75 points in program components (PCS), and received a 1-point deduction, for a total of 161.07 points.
Combined with his short program score of 83.83 points, Seo finished with a total score of 244.90 points, placing third behind France's Adam Siao Him Fa (284.24 points) and Japan's Kao Miura (247.96 points).
Seo executed his opening jumping element of the free skate, the quadruple salchow-triple toe loop combination, to perfection.
He earned a base value of 13.90 points along with 2.91 points in grade of execution (GOE), picking up 16.81 points on this element alone.
However, he subsequently made consecutive jumping errors.
He under-rotated his next jump, a solo quadruple salchow, turning it into a double salchow, and fell on his hip while attempting his third jumping element, the triple axel.
He did not waver further.
He smoothly executed his difficult second-half jumping sequence consisting of a triple axel-euler-triple salchow-double axel, and cleanly landed his solo triple loop and triple flip jumps.
He also received the highest level, Level 4, for his step sequence and two spin elements.
Seo finished his first senior Grand Prix stage in third place overall, just 3.06 points behind runner-up Kao Miura of Japan.
Having made history by reaching the summit of the ISU World Junior Championships in 2024, winning medals at three consecutive World Junior Championships, and conquering the Junior Grand Prix Final last year, Seo secured a bronze medal in his senior Grand Prix debut, proving his world-class competitiveness on the senior stage.
(Photo: ISU SNS capture, Yonhap News)
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