Promising figure skating women's single skater Kim Yu-seong (Surigo High School) has kicked off her challenge for her first medal by breaking her personal best in the short program at her senior Grand Prix debut.

On the 24th (KST), Kim competed in the women's single short program at the 2026-2027 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating Grand Prix Series 1 held at the Ice Parc in Angers, France, where she earned a technical element score (TES) of 39.55 points, a program component score (PCS) of 30.17 points, and a deduction of 1 point, for a total score of 68.72 points to place fourth overall.

She raised her previous personal short program best of 67.77 points, set at the Challenger Series Cranberry Cup last August, by 0.95 points.

Kim, who competed on the junior circuit until last season, built strong momentum by winning both Challenger Series events she entered ahead of her senior Grand Prix debut this season.

Kim continued her momentum at her senior Grand Prix debut, laying the groundwork to capture her first medal.

Yuna Aoki of Japan took first place with 76.31 points, followed by Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia in second with 72.63 points, and Ami Nakai of Japan in third with 70.66 points.

With a gap of just 1.94 points between Kim and third-place Nakai, and 3.91 points behind second-place Gubanova, a medal remains well within reach.

The free skating, which will determine the medal colors, takes place early tomorrow (the 25th).

Kim began her performance to a medley of tracks from the musical "Fosse."

She landed her first jump element, the triple axel, without falling, but unfortunately received a "quarter landed" call (meaning the jump rotation was short by about 90 degrees), resulting in a 1.26-point deduction in her grade of execution (GOE).

Her second element, the triple flip-triple toe loop combination jump, also received an under-rotated call (meaning the jump rotation was short by more than 90 degrees and up to 180 degrees), costing her base value points along with a 0.91-point deduction in GOE.

Kim wrapped up the first half of her program by executing a change foot combination spin at the highest difficulty level, Level 4.

Her performance in the second half, which carries a 10 percent bonus in points, was also slightly disappointing.

On her final jump element, the triple lutz, she received an edge attention call.

Kim then successfully completed a flying camel spin (Level 3), step sequence (Level 3), and layback spin (Level 4) in order to finish her routine.

Yoon Seo-jin (Hankwang High School), who also competed, finished in 10th place with a TES of 31.66 points, a PCS of 26.84 points, a 1-point deduction, and a total score of 57.50 points.

(Photo: Yonhap News)