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| ▲ In this Associated Press file photo from March 24, 2023, Kim Ye-lim of South Korea performs during the women's singles free skate at the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championships at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-figure skating competition
Lee Hae-in wins women's free skate to keep S. Korea in 2nd place at World Team Trophy
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean figure skater Lee Hae-in won the women's singles free skate on Day 2 of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Team Trophy in Figure Skating on Friday, helping the country stay in second place with one day left in the competition.
Lee established a new personal best with 148.67 points in the free program at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo. Her previous career high had been 147.32 points, which she set while winning the silver medal at the world championships in March.
By finishing first in the free skate, Lee brought South Korea 12 ranking points.
One other South Korean in the women's singles, Kim Ye-lim, posted the third-best free skate score with 143.59 points, and scored 10 ranking points for the country.
Earlier Friday, Hannah Lim and Quan Ye finished sixth in the free dance portion of the ice dance competition. That was good for seven ranking points.
In the pairs short program, Cho Hye-jin and Steven Adcock ranked sixth out of six teams, earning seven ranking points.
With 36 points Friday, South Korea reached 75 points overall, 15 back of the United States and one ahead of Japan. The United States won the pairs short program and the free dance in ice dance Friday.
The World Team Trophy will conclude Saturday with the pairs free skate and the men's singles free skate. South Korean Cha Jun-hwan, the reigning world silver medalist in the men's singles, finished second in Thursday's short program with a personal-best 101.33 points.
This is South Korea's first appearance at the World Team Trophy. Lee and Cha helped South Korea qualify by winning silver medals at the worlds in March.
Lee became the first South Korean figure skater since Kim Yu-na in 2013 to win a world championships medal, while Cha became the first South Korean male figure skater to stand on the podium at a world championships.
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