Seo Min-kyu (; born 14 October 2008) is a South Korean

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 ...

. He is the 2024 Junior World champion, a two time South Korean national bronze medalist (2023–24), the 2023 JGP Turkey gold medalist, the 2022 JGP Poland II bronze medalist, and the 2022 South Korean junior champion. Seo is the first South Korean man to both medal at and win the World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Seo was born on October 14, 2008, in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

, South Korea.

Career

Early years

Seo began skating in 2011 at the age of four. He then became inspired to become a competitive figure skater after watching

Cha Jun-hwan Cha Jun-Hwan (Hangul: 차준환; born October 21, 2001) is a South Korean figure skater who competes in the men's singles discipline. Cha is the 2023 World silver medalist, the 2022 Four Continents champion, the 2018–2019 Grand Prix Final ...

compete. His mother, Kim Eun-ji, is one of his coaches. Seo's first international competition was the 2019 Asian Open Trophy in advanced novice, where he finished in sixth place. He won the national junior gold medal at the 2022 South Korean Championships.

2022–23 season: Junior international debut, national bronze medal

Making his international junior debut on the

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 ...

at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

, Seo finished first in the short program after a clean skate, where he scored 74.39 points. He cleanly landed most of his jumps in the free skate, only to fall at the triple Salchow-double Axel sequence and edge calls on two Lutz jumps. He finished fourth overall. In early October, he competed in his second event on the circuit, the 2022 JGP Poland II in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. He ranked fourth in the short program and third in the free, winning the bronze medal. He was named the third of three alternates for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final. In his first senior event, Seo placed fourth in the short program at the 2023 South Korean Championships. He placed second in the free skate, 11.17 points behind

, and won the bronze medal. Seo was named the first alternate for the 2023 World Junior Championships in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

2023–24 season

In late July, Seo competed at the 2023 South Korean ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers, where he won the gold medal, thus earning two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. He placed fifth at the 2023 JGP Thailand. At his second, the 2023 JGP Turkey, he won both segments of the competition and took the gold medal. As well, he successfully landed a triple Axel for the first time in international competition, which he cited as a point of pride. With these results, Seo was named as the second alternate for the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final. He went on to compete on the senior national ranking competition, winning the silver medal. In January, he competed at the 2024 South Korean Championships, where he won his second consecutive bronze medal. With this result, Seo was selected to represent South Korea at the 2024 World Junior Championships. Competing at the World Junior Championships in

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 ...

, Seo won the short program with a clean skate. He was narrowly second in the free skate after singling one of his planned triple Axels, finishing 1.54 points behind Japan's

Rio Nakata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

, but remained first overall by 1.44 points and claimed the gold medal. This was the first Junior World medal for a South Korean man. Seo said that he viewed the result as a vindication of his belief in importance of program components in addition to the technical elements.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''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:

Detailed results

Junior results

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

References

External links

*
Seo Min-kyu
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seo, Min-kyu 2008 births South Korean male single skaters Living people Sportspeople from Daegu