Lee Hae-in (figure skater)


Lee Hae-in is a South Korean figure skater. She is a two-time champion on the ISU Junior Grand Prix and the two-time South Korean national senior medalist. She represented her country at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where she finished 5th.

Career

Lee Hae-in was born on 16 April 2005 in Daejeon, South Korea, and began learning to skate in 2013.

2017–2018 season

In January 2018 at the 2018 senior South Korean Championships, Lee was 9th.

2018–2019 season

In the 2018–2019 season, she debuted in the ISU Junior Grand Prix series.
In January 2019 at the 2019 senior South Korean Championships, she won the bronze medal.
In March 2019, Lee represented South Korea at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. She ranked 14th in the short, which put her in only the third-to-last warm-up group for the free skate. In the free, she placed 7th, raising to 8th overall.

2019–2020 season

In July 2019, Lee Hae-in participated in the ISU Junior Grand Prix Korean qualification competition held in Taeneung, South Korea, where she came in first in the short program, free program, and overall. Following the competition, she was selected and assigned to two ISU Junior Grand Prix events, JGP Latvia and JGP Croatia.
At JGP Latvia, she became the third Korean woman ever to become an ISU Junior Grand Prix champion, following Yuna Kim and Kim Hae-jin. She finished third in the short program behind Maiia Khromykh and Daria Usacheva of Russia and the placed first in the free program to win the event with a combined total of 197.63 points, more than three points ahead of silver medalist Usacheva. She set personal best scores in the short program, free program, and overall. This event marked the first Junior Grand Prix event won by a Korean lady since Kim Hae-jin's victory at JGP Slovenia in 2012.
At JGP Croatia, she placed second in the short program with a new personal best, once again behind Daria Usacheva. After a strong free skate in which she once again scored a new personal best, she placed first overall with a new personal best overall score of 203.40, more than six points ahead of Usacheva in second and 21 points ahead of Anna Frolova in third. This marked the first time that Lee scored above 200 points in combined total. With two first-place finishes, Lee qualified to the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final as the third-ranked skater, behind Kamila Valieva of Russia and Alysa Liu of the United States. She was the third Korean lady to ever qualify for the final after Kim Yuna and Kim Ye-lim.
At 2020 World Junior Championships, she earned a small silver medal for the short program behind Kamila Valieva earning gold and ahead of Daria Usacheva, who claimed bronze. Lee remarked that she had not expected to be in the top three after the short program, adding "I'm surprised with the score, it’s very high." She also set a new season best for this short program. In the free skate, Lee fell on a downgraded triple flip attempt, resulting in a sixth-place finish in that segment and ranking fifth overall.

Programs

Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Junior level

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Personal bests highlighted in bold.