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Seventeen-year-old rising star Choi Ha-bin, who executes the best jumps in South Korean figure skating history, recently secured his spot in the Junior Grand Prix Final and is set to debut on the senior stage next season. He has revealed an ambitious goal to become the first South Korean to successfully land the most difficult jump, the quadruple axel.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story.

[Reporter]

Hailed as a "jump prodigy" for executing quadruple jumps since the age of 13, Choi Ha-bin mastered the quadruple lutz—the most difficult among quadruple jumps—in just a week of practice early last year, turning it into his signature weapon.

[Choi Ha-bin / National Figure Skating Junior Team Member: When I fell while practicing the quadruple lutz, I would hit my head and my pelvis. So I got fierce, thinking, "Even if it hurts, just bear it and rotate," and I managed to land it in just a week.]

A year after becoming the first South Korean skater to successfully land a quadruple lutz in competition, Choi has evolved even further this season.

After becoming the first South Korean to successfully execute a quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination jump, which carries a staggering base value of 15.70 points, he successfully landed three quadruple jumps in a single program for the first time, topping the podium at the second event and advancing to the Grand Prix Final, the showdown of champions.

[Choi Ha-bin / National Figure Skating Junior Team Member: Having the title of being the "first" in South Korea feels great. I think I keep striving to earn other "firsts" as well.]

Choi is now preparing for another leap forward.

He expressed his determination to showcase the quadruple axel—the currently most difficult four-and-a-half revolution jump successfully performed only by the United States' Malinin—on the senior stage he will debut on next year.

[Choi Ha-bin / National Figure Skating Junior Team Member: I've been practicing the quadruple axel for about six months, and I want to be officially recognized as the first in South Korea. I want to be remembered as an athlete with "overwhelming jumps."]

(Video by Yoo Dong-hyuk | Video Editing by Park Gi-deok | Graphics by Byun Dayoung)