Park So-youn (, born October 24, 1997) is a retired

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She is the 2012

Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy (or ''Asian Trophy''; previously known as the Asian Figure Skating Championships) is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the Asian Skating Union. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's and ...

champion, the 2014

bronze medalist, the 2015 South Korean national champion, and a three-time South Korean national silver medalist (2012–2014). On the junior level, she is the 2012 Youth Olympic team event bronze medalist, the 2012 JGP Turkey silver medalist, and the 2011

silver medalist. She placed 4th at the

2012 Winter Youth Olympics The 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (german: Olympische Jugend-Winterspiele 2012), officially known as the I Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG), were an international multi-sport event for youths that took place in Innsbruck, Austria, on 13–22 J ...

and 21st at the 2014

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

Career

Early years and junior career

Park began skating when she was eight years old, in the first grade of elementary school. In 2009, she became the youngest Korean national team member, aged 13. She began competing on the

ISU Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

series in autumn 2011. In the 2012–13 season, Park won gold on the senior level at the Asian Trophy and a silver medal at a JGP event in Turkey. She then won her third national silver medal and was sent to her first World Junior Championships, where she placed 12th. In 2013, Park said her goal was to compete at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

in Pyeongchang.

2013–14 season: Senior international debut

In August, at South Korea Trials for Junior Grand Prix, she placed 1st in the short program and 8th in the free skate, which resulted in 5th place overall. She was not selected to compete at the

2013–14 ISU Junior Grand Prix The 2013–14 ISU Junior Grand Prix was the 17th season of a series of junior international competitions organized by the International Skating Union. It was the junior-level complement to the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, in which s ...

. She changed her free program for the Korean Nationals. At the 2014 South Korean Championships, she won the silver medal, 49.69 points behind

Kim Yuna Yuna Kim (; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a retired South Korean competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and 2014 Olympic silver medalist in ladies' singles, ...

. Park made her senior international debut at the 2014 Four Continents Championships. She placed 8th in the short program and 9th in the free skating, finished 9th with the combined total of 162.71. She was selected to represent her country at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

with her national teammates,

and

Kim Hae-jin Kim Hae-jin (; born April 23, 1997) is a South Korean former figure skater. She is the 2012 JGP Slovenia champion and a three-time (2010, 2011, and 2012) South Korean national champion. She was selected to represent her country at the 2014 Wint ...

. She was 23rd after the short program, barely advancing to the free skate. After the free skate, she placed 21st overall. At the 2014 World Championships, she had a clean free program and placed 9th overall. She scored 176.71 points, which was her new personal best.

2014–15 season: First national title

Park made her Grand Prix debut at the

2014 Skate America The 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Octob ...

. She placed 5th in both programs and 5th overall. At the

2014 Rostelecom Cup The 2014 Rostelecom Cup was the fourth event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Luzhniki Small Sports Arena in Moscow on November 14–16. Meda ...

, she placed 7th in the short program, 4th in the free skate and 5th overall. At the 2015 South Korean Championships, Park won both the short program and free skate, and won her first national title. At the 2015 Four Continents she placed 10th in the short program, 9th in the free skate, and 9th overall. At the 2015 World Championships, Park placed 15th in the short program, 9th in the free skate, and 12th overall. Her placement helped earn two spots for South Korea in the ladies event for the 2016 World Championships.

2015–16 season

Park received two 2015–16 Grand Prix assignments. She began her season by finishing 4th at 2015 Finlandia Trophy. Turning to the Grand Prix series, she placed 9th at

2015 Skate America The 2015 Progressive Skate America was the first event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ...

and 8th at

2015 Cup of China The 2015 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 6–8. Medals were ...

. Park then went on to finish 5th at the 2016 South Korean Championships, but was still named for the 2016

Four Continents Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Africa in the south, America in the west, Asia in the east, a ...

and

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

teams since three of the four skaters that finished ahead of her were ineligible for the senior level. At Four Continents, she skated a personal best short program with a score of 62.49 points, placing in the top five in the short program and beating her season's best by 8.71 points. She went on to score 116.43 points in the free skate and a total score of 178.92 points placing fourth overall. Her total score was a personal best and beat her season's best by 14.64 points.

2016–17 season

Park placed 8th at the

2016 Skate America The 2016 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois, on October 21–23. Medals we ...

and then 5th at the

2016 Trophée de France The 2016 Trophée de France was the fourth event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris on November 11–13. Medals we ...

. She fractured her left ankle during a training session on December 13, 2016, which caused her to withdraw from the 2017 South Korean Championships,

2017 Winter Universiade Winter Universiade 2017, the XXVIII Winter Universiade, was a multi-sport winter event which took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 29 January to 8 February 2017. On 29 November 2011, FISU announced that Winter Universiade 2017 would be hosted in ...

and the

2017 Asian Winter Games The 2017 Asian Winter Games ( ja, 2017アジア冬季競技大会, 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for 2 ...

2017–18 season

Park had to undergo four surgeries while recovering from the ankle injury from the previous season. She participated in all three stages of the national selection process for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, but could not get hold of a ticket.

2018–19 season

Park finished 4th at the 2019 South Korean Championships and 5th at the

2019 Winter Universiade The 2019 Winter Universiade (russian: Зимняя Универсиада 2019), the XXIX Universiade, was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes which took place from 2 to 12 March 2019 in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. The 2019 W ...

. She participated in

All That Skate All That Skate is a figure skating show produced by All That Sports (AT Sports), a sports agency based on Seoul, South Korea set up by 2010 Winter Olympic champion Kim Yuna and her mother Park Mi-hee. 2019 All That Skate The All That Skate 2019 w ...

2019, then announced her retirement from competition. She is going to join the cast for a Cirque du Soleil show.

Skating technique

Park can land 3S-3T and 2A-3T combinations.

Programs

Competitive highlights

2011–12 to present

''GP:

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

2008–09 to 2010–11 : Pre-junior international debut

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level

''At team events, medals awarded for team results only.'' * ISU personal bests highlighted in bold.

References

2012 Asian Figure Skating Trophy Results

2011 International Children's Winter Games Results

Detailed results and protocols
at the New Zealand Ice Skating Association * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, So-youn South Korean female single skaters 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from South Jeolla Province Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for South Korea Figure skaters at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade 20th-century South Korean women 21st-century South Korean women