Gangwon 2024: Kim Hyungyeom edges Adam Hagara in nail-biter to delight home crowd, claim men's figure skating gold
The Republic of Korea star holds off Hagara of Slovakia by 0.5 to top the podium on home soil at Gangneung Ice Arena. Yanhao Li captured bronze.
Figure Skating
Kim Hyungyeom of the Republic of Korea held off Adam Hagara by half a point for the men’s figure skating singles gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024 on Monday (29 January).
To the delight of his home crowd, Kim topped the podium with the day’s best free skate of 147.45 for a 216.73 total, over Slovakia’s Hagara, who scored 216.23.
Yanhao Li of New Zealand took bronze with a 208.84. Jacob Sanchez of the USA, who led after the short program, finished fourth on 200.28 to miss the podium after a free skate that was sixth best on this day (123.90).
Kim, 17, is the first Korean male figure skater to medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
“I was very nervous today but I’m happy that I could produce a clean and good free skate,” said Kim, who was third after the short program.
“It’s the first time I’m doing such a big competition in my home country. But I had so many people cheering me on so I was able to do it well.”
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Kim incorporated an opening quadruple toeloop in Monday’s program, which just may have done the trick with his victory over his good friend Hagara by the slimmest of margins.
“That jump was very important in my routine,” said Kim. “It would determine whether or not I finish the competition with a medal so there was a lot of pressure to do it.
“But I overcame the nerves and executed that jump well.”
Hagara was a good sport about settling for silver, vowing to bounce back at the 26 February-3 March World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Taipei.
“I feel really good about the silver medal,” he said. “Of course I wanted the gold but my friend got it so I'm still feeling good about it and I did the best that I could.
“Right now, I think there was maybe a little mistake on the Axel and maybe some other things that I could do better, but overall I think I did really good.
“It happens, but I can feel good about it because I did my best and he also did his best and it showed that he's better currently at this competition.
“But I will try to beat him in the future.”
Earlier in the day, Canada claimed gold in the pairs event. Annika Behnke and Kole Sauve topped the scoresheets for the Canadian team with a score of 74.54 in the free skate, despite a trip at the start of their performance, giving them a total of 113.63. The USA pair of Smith/McPike won silver (98.00) with Spain's Campillo/Vilella claiming bronze (94.03).
Focus at the Gangwon 2024 figure skating competition turns to Tuesday, and the women's free skate, which can be watched live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympic app.