Richard Kang-in Kam (born December 24, 1996) is a retired New Zealand and South Korean

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

who most recently competed with Charlotte Lafond-Fournier representing New Zealand. Competing for South Korea with his former skating partner, Lee Ho-jung, he is a two-time national medalist and competed in the free dance at four ISU Championships.

Early life

On December 24, 1996, Kam was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He is the younger brother of Korean figure skater Alex Kang-chan Kam.

Career

Kam began skating in 2005. He competed as a singles skater until the 2013–2014 season.

Ice dancing

In the 2014–15 season, Kam began competing in

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

with Lee Ho-jung. At the 2015 World Junior Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, Estonia, they qualified to the final segment by placing twentieth in the short dance and went on to finish nineteenth overall. Lee/Kam made their senior international debut in February 2016 at the

Four Continents Championships The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) is an annual figure skating competition. The International Skating Union established it in 1999 to provide skaters representing non-African and non-European countries with a similar competit ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, Taiwan, where they finished tenth. In March, they placed fourteenth at the 2016 World Junior Championships in

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

, Hungary. In their final season together, Lee/Kam won the silver medal at the South Korean championships and finished thirteenth at the 2017 Four Continents Championships. Lee Ho-jung announced on April 3, 2017, that their partnership has been dissolved. After some years away from competition, Kam formed a new partnership with Canadian ice dancer Charlotte Lafond-Fournier, this time representing New Zealand. They made their Challenger series debut at the

2021 CS Autumn Classic International The 2021 CS Autumn Classic International was held on September 16–18, 2021 in Pierrefonds, Quebec. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice da ...

, where they finished in seventh. Lafond-Fournier/Kam next competed at the

2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held on September 22–25, 2021 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. It was also the final qualifying event for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Medals were awarded in the discipli ...

, seeking to qualify a berth for a New Zealand dance team at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, but finished in twelfth position, outside of qualification. Lafond-Fournier/Kam were ninth at the 2022 Four Continents Championships and twenty-fourth in their inaugural appearance at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Programs

Ice dancing with Lafond-Fournier

Ice dancing with Lee

Single skating

Competitive highlights

With Lafond-Fournier for New Zealand

With Lee for South Korea

Single skating for South Korea

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kam, Richard 1996 births Living people Figure skaters from Seoul Sportspeople from Christchurch South Korean male ice dancers South Korean male single skaters New Zealand people of South Korean descent New Zealand emigrants to South Korea Figure skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games