Lee June-hyoung is a South Korean figure skater. He is the 2014 JGP France champion and a three-time South Korean national champion. He is the first South Korean male figure skater who stood on the podium and won gold at ISU events. Also, he is the first Korean male skater to qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.
Personal life
Lee June-hyoung was born in Seoul, South Korea. His mother, Oh Ji Youn, is a figure skating coach.
Career
Early years
Lee was coached by his mother from the age of seven to 14. He started working with Chi Hyun-jung as his coach in 2010. Lee placed 3rd at both the Korean Junior Grand Prix qualification trials and the Korean Nationals.
2011–2012 season
The 2011–2012 season was Lee's breakthout season. He included five different triple jumps in his program and improved jump consistency. In August, he was selected to represent Team Korea by placing second at the Korean Junior Grand Prix qualification trials. At the Asian Trophy, he took silver in the junior category. Making his Junior Grand Prix debut, Lee placed 4th at the 2011 JGP event in Latvia. At his second assignment, in Milan, Italy, he won bronze and became the first South Korean male figure skater to medal at an ISU event. He won the Korean Ranking competition in November and placed 4th at the Winter Youth Olympics. He placed 18th at the World Junior Championships.
2012–2013 season
Lee started his season with a new free program, "Queen medley", but returned to his previous season's free program, "The Barber of Seville", at his first Junior Grand Prix event. He won South Korean Nationals, but could not compete at the senior World Championships because he did not meet the minimum technical score requirement for the event. He placed 13th at the World Junior Championships. In February, he landed a triple Axel jump during the short program segment at the Four Continents Championships.
2013–2014 season
In the middle of the season, he changed his free skating from "The Planets" to another one. The new program, "The Phantom of the Opera", was shown at the Korean Nationals. At the nationals, with total score of 206.88, Lee became the first Korean male skater who scored over 200 points in domestic competitions. In February, he placed 14th at the 2013 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei. In March, he placed 16th at the World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2014–2015 season
Competing in the 2014–15 JGP series, Lee won gold at his first event, JGP France, with overall score of 203.81. This accomplishment made him the first South Korean male figure skater to win an ISU event. By obtaining bronze at JGP Croatia, he became the first Korean male skater to qualify for an ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. In December, at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, he placed fifth in the short program and sixth in the free skating to place sixth place overall. In January, Lee beat his rival, Kim Jin-seo, to win his second national title. He was nominated to the South Korean team for the 2015 Four Continents Championship. At the competition, he placed fifteenth in the short program and nineteenth in the free skate to place eighteenth overall. He placed 19th at the 2015 World Championships.
