Lee Jae-keun Ranks 2nd in Short Program with Personal Best... Chasing First Victory

The chances of South Korea winning its first medal of the season at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating are looking high.

Figure skater Lee Jae-keun broke his personal best in the short program to finish second, while "title favorite" Choi Ha-bin also kept hopes alive for a comeback.

Eighteen-year-old Lee Jae-keun made a brilliant start to his final junior season at the very first event.

After cleanly executing his triple lutz, he earned extra grade-of-execution points on all three of his jumping passes, including the triple axel and the triple-triple combination jump.

Executing all his spins at the highest level, Lee finished his performance by breaking his previous personal best by 0.79 points with a score of 83.20, placing him second.

He trails the Japanese skater in first place by just 0.55 points.

In tomorrow's free skate, he will look to surpass his silver medal from 2024 and claim his first-ever championship title.

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Sixteen-year-old prospect Choi Ha-bin was left to rue a jumping error.

He fell during his triple combination jump, receiving a heavy deduction and placing fifth.

Boasting the highest jump layout among all competing skaters—including three quadruple jumps featuring the quadruple lutz in the free skate—Choi aims to stage a comeback for a medal.

(Video Editing: Lee Jae-sung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.