▲ You Young of South Korea performs her free skate in the women's singles figure skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ You Young of South Korea performs her free skate in the women's singles figure skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Ye-lim of South Korea performs her free skate in the women's singles figure skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Ye-lim of South Korea performs her free skate in the women's singles figure skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) (Olympics) S Korea-figure skating

(LEAD) (Olympics) S. Korea's You Young, Kim Ye-lim finish in top 10 in women's figure skating

(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 6-7)

By Yoo Jee-ho

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean figure skaters You Young and Kim Ye-lim both ranked in the top 10 in the women's singles competition at Beijing 2022 on Thursday, wrapping up their Olympic debuts with strong free skate performances.

You scored 142.75 points in the free skate for a total of 213.09 points, good for sixth. She was in sixth place after Tuesday's short program with 70.34 points.

In the free skate, You had 74.16 points in the technical element score (TES), which measures execution of jumps and other elements, and 68.59 points in the program component score (PCS), which evaluates choreography and artistry.

Kim earned 134.85 points in the free skate for a total score of 202.63 points, ending up in ninth place. Kim had 67.78 points in the short program to sit in ninth place on Tuesday.

Kim earned 68.61 points in TES and 66.24 points in PCS in her free skate.

South Korea had two figure skaters ranked inside the top 10 in the women's singles event for the first time.

Performing to "Les Miserables" by Claude Michel Schonberg, You successfully landed all of her jumps, but was called for under-rotating her opening triple axel and later a triple toe loop. She received the maximum Level 4s on her step sequence and spins. She had the fourth-highest free skate score in the field.

Skating to "Violin Fantasy on Puccini's Turandot" by Vanessa Mae, Kim had the 11th-best free skate score. Judges spotted a wrong edge on Kim's takeoff on a triple lutz midway through the program, though Kim landed her other triple jumps cleanly, including a triple loop and a triple flip in succession.

Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), competing under the cloud of a doping scandal, stumbled her way out of medal contention with a disastrous free skate. After winning the short program with 82.16 points Tuesday, the 15-year-old fell multiple times en route to 141.93 points in the free skate. At 224.09 total points, Valieva finished in fourth place, more than nine points back of the bronze medalist, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Anna Shcherbakova of the ROC won the gold medal with 255.95 points, thanks to 175.75 points in the free skate. Alexandra Trusova (251.73 points) earned silver after leading everyone in the free skate score with 177.13 points.

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