Seo Min-kyu

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Seo Min-kyu
Native name서민규
Other namesMinkyu Seo
Seo Minkyu
Born (2008-10-14) October 14, 2008 (age 15)
Daegu, South Korea
HometownDaegu, South Korea
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1+12 in)
Figure skating career
Country South Korea
CoachKim A-young, Kim Eun-ju, Choi Hyung-kyung
Skating clubDaegu Indoor Icerink
Began skating2011
Medal record
Figure skating: Men's singles
Representing  South Korea
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Taipei Men's singles

Seo Min-kyu (Hangul: 서민규; born 14 October 2008) is a South Korean figure skater. 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[edit]

Seo was born on October 14, 2008, in Daegu, South Korea.[1]

Career[edit]

Early years[edit]

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 compete. His mother, Kim Eun-ji, is one of his coaches.[2][3]

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.[1]

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

Making his international junior debut on the Junior Grand Prix at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic in Ostrava, Seo finished first in the short program after a clean skate, where he scored 74.39 points.[4] 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.[5] In early October, he competed in his second event on the circuit, the 2022 JGP Poland II in Gdańsk. 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.[6]

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 Cha Jun-hwan, and won the bronze medal. Seo was named the first alternate for the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary.

2023–24 season[edit]

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.[7] He placed fifth at the 2023 JGP Thailand.[8] 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.[9] With these results, Seo was named as the second alternate for the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final.[10]

He went on to compete on the senior national ranking competition, winning the silver medal.[11] In January, he competed at the 2024 South Korean Championships, where he won his second consecutive bronze medal.[1] With this result, Seo was selected to represent South Korea at the 2024 World Junior Championships.[12]

Competing at the World Junior Championships in Taipei, 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, 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.[13]

Programs[edit]

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2023–2024
[8]
  • Flower Dance
    by DJ Okawari
    performed by LAYERS CLASSIC
    choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan
  • Snow Globe
    by Forestella
2022–2023
[14]
2021–2022
2019–2020

Competitive highlights[edit]

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[1]
Event 19–20 20–21 21–22 22–23 23–24
Junior Worlds 1st
JGP Czech Republic 4th
JGP Poland 3rd
JGP Thailand 5th
JGP Turkey 1st
International: Advanced novice
Asian Open 6th
National[1]
South Korean Champ. 1st J 3rd 3rd
Ranking Comp. 1st J 3rd 2nd
J = Junior level

Detailed results[edit]

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE system [15]
Segment Type Score Event
Total TSS 231.30 2023 JGP Turkey
Short program TSS 80.58 2024 World Junior Championships
TES 44.33 2024 World Junior Championships
PCS 36.61 2022 JGP Czech Republic
Free skating TSS 155.63 2023 JGP Turkey
TES 77.04 2023 JGP Turkey
PCS 78.59 2023 JGP Turkey

Junior results[edit]

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

2023–24 season
Date Event Level SP FS Total
Feb. 26 – Mar. 3, 2024 2024 World Junior Championships Junior 1
80.58
2
150.17
1
230.75
January 4–7, 2024 2024 South Korean Championships Senior 6
73.72
2
158.90
3
232.62
September 6–9, 2023 2023 JGP Turkey Junior 2
75.67
1
155.63
1
231.30
August 23–26, 2023 2023 JGP Thailand Junior 5
67.40
4
128.72
5
196.12
2022–23 season
Date Event Level SP FS Total
January 5–9, 2023 2023 South Korean Championships Senior 4
76.90
2
159.00
3
235.90
December 2–4, 2022 2022 Ranking Competition Senior 3
75.34
3
153.67
3
229.01
October 5–8, 2022 2022 JGP Poland II Junior 4
72.36
3
134.31
3
206.67
Aug. 31 – Sept. 3, 2022 2022 JGP Czech Republic Junior 1
74.39
4
135.20
4
209.59
2021–22 season
Date Event Level SP FS Total
January 7–9, 2022 2022 South Korean Championships Junior 1
61.21
1
126.12
1
187.33
December 3–5, 2021 2021 Ranking Competition Junior 1
59.79
1
116.63
1
176.42
2019–20 season
Date Event Level SP FS Total
Oct. 30 – Nov. 3, 2019 2019 Asian Open Trophy Novice 6
26.93
5
52.98
6
79.91

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Competition Results: Minkyu SEO". International Skating Union.
  2. ^ "Minkyu Seo, the "skater who dreams". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  3. ^ [230419 생방송 시시각각] '꿈꾸는 스케이터⛸' 피겨국가대표 서민규⭐️. 대구MBC Program. April 19, 2023.
  4. ^ "피겨 서민규, ISU 주니어 그랑프리 남자 싱글 쇼트 1위" [Figure Skater Seo Min-gyu, ISU Junior Grand Prix Men's Single Short 1st Place]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). September 2, 2022.
  5. ^ Kwon, Su-yeon (September 3, 2022). "첫 그랑프리 무대 오른 서민규...ISU 주니어 GP 최종 4위" [Seo Min-kyu, who debuted on the Grand Prix stage... Finishes 4th place at the ISU Junior GP]. MHN Sports (in Korean).
  6. ^ "More Skaters secure spots for the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final". International Skating Union. October 10, 2022.
  7. ^ Cho, Young-joon (July 23, 2023). "'Junior Ace of Figure Skating' Shin Jia wins the Junior Grand Prix Qualifying Tournament". SPOTV News. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Minkyu SEO: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Ami Nakai (JPN) and Rio Nakata (JPN) secure Junior Grand Prix Final spot in Istanbul (TUR)". International Skating Union. September 11, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  10. ^ "ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2023/2024 - Junior Men". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  11. ^ "2023 Ranking Competition". Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  12. ^ "ISU World Junior Championships 2024 - Junior Men Entries". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  13. ^ Slater, Paula (March 2, 2024). "Minkyu Seo clinches men's title at Junior Worlds". Golden Skate. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  14. ^ "Minkyu SEO: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023.
  15. ^ "Minkyu SEO". Skating Scores. January 28, 2024.

External links[edit]