Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024: Figure skaters to watch out for

Just two years before he was an Olympic silver medallist at Beijing 2022, figure skater Kagiyama Yuma was standing atop the podium at the Youth Olympic Games.

It was January 2020 and the then-16-year-old had announced his arrival on the international stage, with his victory in Lausanne serving as a harbinger for what was to come for the rising Japanese star skater at the senior level.

Can the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 be a similar launching pad for another generation of up-and-coming athletes?

Reigning junior world medallists Naoki Rossi, Nakai Ami and Shin Jia (pictured above) are among those hoping for as much, and the trio could compete at the Gangneung Ice Arena 27 January to 1 February.

Here, a look at those young skaters - and some more juniors - to keep an eye out for come Gangwon 2024.

Gangwon 2024 – Skaters to watch: Men

Naoki Rossi, 16 (SUI): The 2023 junior world silver medallist, Rossi added a Junior Grand Prix medal to his name this season at the JGP in Hungary. The 2022 Swiss junior national champion has both of his current programs choreographed by countryman and Torino 2006 silver medallist, Stephane Lambiel.

Nakata Rio 15 (JPN): The Japanese teen claimed his first Junior Grand Prix gold medal at the JPG in Thailand in August. Armed with a quadruple toe-loop and triple Axel, he calls two-time and reigning world champion Uno Shoma, his Japanese compatriot, his favourite skater.

Kim Hyungyeom, 17 (KOR): There has been growing energy around Korean skating the last few years, with a host of junior women (more on them below) to look out for. Kim leads the men, the Seoul-based skater having won the JGP in Hungary over Rossi after finish sixth at junior worlds last season.

Also to watch: Li & Hagara

There is a diverse spread of nations represented in junior men’s skating right now, with New Zealand’s Yanhao Li and Slovakian Adam Hagara also looking to factor into the conversation in Gangwon.

While Hagara won gold at the JGP in Austria, Li’s bronze medal in Thailand marked a first for junior skaters from New Zealand.

Gangwon 2024 – skaters to watch: Women

Shin Jia, 15 (KOR): Shin has already established herself, winning the Korean national title in 2023. She is the two-time and reigning world junior silver medallist, and this season has captured both the JGPs she’s competed in: Austria and Hungary. Her silver at worlds in 2022 made her just the second Korean to win a junior world medal – the first being Kim Yuna (2005).

Nakai Ami, 15 (JPN): Nakai won bronze behind Shin at worlds in 2023, with her compatriot Shimada Mao winning the gold. (Shimada is not competing juniors this season.) Much like Shin, she also swept both her JGPs this season (Thailand and Turkey). In fact, she and Shin now train alongside one another in Chiba, Japan.

Kim Yuseong, 14 (KOR): Still just 14, Kim captured the silver medal at both the JGPs in Hungary and Thailand, finishing behind Shin and Nakai, respectively. She is one of many young female skaters to compete with a triple Axel in her repertoire.

*Also to watch: Han, Takagi, Tsai
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The talent is stacked for young women both in Korea and Japan – and you can add the names of Han Heesue (KOR) and Takagi Yo (JPN) to those lists.

Fourteen-year-old Tsai Yu-Feng of Chinese Taipei nabbed the bronze in the JGP in Japan, while also winning two smaller-level senior events this season at the Asian Open and Thailand Open.

Figure skating at the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024

There are five discipline set to be contested in Gangwon: Men's singles; women's; pairs; ice dance; and a team event.

The daily schedule for skating in Gangwon is set as such:

Saturday 27 January 2024
Pairs short program; men's short program

Sunday 28 January
Ice dance rhythm dance; women's short program

Monday 29 January
Pairs free skate; men's free skate

Tuesday 30 January
Ice dance free dance; women's free skate

Thursday 1 February
Figure skating team event