Lee Hae-in “World Championship silver, doubt about me”

 Lee Hae-in (18, Sehwa Girls’ High School), who won the women’s single silver medal at the 2023 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating World Championships, gave meaning to it as an opportunity to gain confidence.

Lee Hae-in returned to Korea via Gimpo Airport on the afternoon of the 27th after finishing the World Championships in Saitama, Japan on the 26th.

In the women’s singles event at the World Championships, Lee Hae-in earned a total of 220.94 points, including 73.62 points in the short program and 147.32 points in the free skating, placing second behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (224.61 points).

It was the first time in 10 years for a Korean female athlete to win a medal at the World Championships since Kim Yuna, who won a gold medal at the 2013 event.

Until this year, Yuna Kim was the only Korean athlete to win a medal at the World Figure Skating Championships. Yuna Kim has won 6 medals (2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze) in her personal career at her World Championships.

After Yu-Na Kim, Yoo-Young’s best result was last year’s World Championship Women’s Singles, where Lee Hae-in and Cha Jun-Hwan (Korea University) won silver medals, ending the ‘medal drought’.

Lee Hae-in, who won the gold medal at the Four Continents Championships last month for the first time in 14 years since Yuna Kim in 2009, took the silver medal at the prestigious World Championships next to the Olympics, becoming a leader in the post-Yuna Kim category.

In an interview after returning to Korea, Lee Hae-in said, “The World Championships was the event I wanted to participate in the most throughout this season, but I did well in the overall championships and it was good to win the right to participate.” I was happy to be able to show you,” he said.

In response to the question, ‘Is there any performance that you thought went well? I did,” he recalled.

He wasn’t nervous even in front of a large crowd. Lee Hae-in said, “There weren’t many spectators when I practiced in the morning, but after the women’s single free skating event started, the spectators increased dramatically.” After my name was called, I wasn’t very nervous,” he recalled.

Lee Hae-in, who held a ceremony pointing to somewhere with his index finger after the free skating performance, said, “This time 안전놀이터(Kyung) Jae-seok and (Lee) Si-hyung came to Japan to cheer me on. I must have been tired from being on the ice rink all day. Thank you. It gave me a lot of strength,” he explained. “After doing this clean place, my older brothers clapped loudly and shouted, so I pointed at it because I was happy.”

At the press conference after winning the medal, Lee Hae-in, who said, “I am especially grateful to (Kim) Yuna unnie, who gave me a lot of advice,” smiled brightly, saying, “After winning the silver medal, Yuna sent me a text message to congratulate me. Thank you so much.” .

Lee Hae-in eased the regret of not being able to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics with the silver medal in this event.

Lee Hae-in, who ranked 7th and 10th at the ISU Senior Figure Skating Grand Prix twice in the 2021-2022 season, showed a sluggish performance in the first round of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and stayed in 6th place. couldn’t

Lee Hae-in, who put her disappointment behind and devoted herself to training, won a silver medal at the Four Continents Championships last year and succeeded in winning prizes in the senior major competitions this year.

Lee Hae-in said, “If I didn’t go to the Olympics, I didn’t go, and I thought I’d show what I can do this season.”

Lee Hae-in, who unfortunately missed out on medals by placing fourth in two Grand Prix events this season, said, “It didn’t work out well at the beginning of the season. Still, I didn’t give up and ran to the end, and winning the silver medal made it even more rewarding.”

Lee Hae-in emphasized, “I had some doubts about myself. But through the Four Continents Championships and the World Championships, I gained confidence that I can do well.”

Lee Hae-in, who is not thinking about the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics yet, said, “The next Olympics will come later. showed determination.

Lee Hae-in, who expressed his intention to challenge the triple axel right after finishing this competition, said, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t try the triple axel this season. I will practice hard during practice so that I can compete at least once in the free skating next season.”