Cha Jun-hwan (22, Korea University), a signpost of Korean men’s figure skating, wears the captain’s armband and leads the Korean team in the national competition, the Team Trophy.
The 2023 ISU Figure Skating Team Trophy, a national figure skating team competition hosted by the International Skating Union (ISU), will be held at the Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan from the 13th to the 16th.
In the team trophy, athletes from each country compete in 4 events (men and women’s singles, pairs, ice dance) and the ranking is determined by the sum of points.
Two people each will compete in the men’s and women’s singles, and one pair each will participate in the pairs and ice dancing. The final ranking is determined by converting the short program and free skating rankings of the event into points. Also, since this is an event organized by ISU, scores recorded in this event are recognized as official scores.
The Team Trophy was first held in Tokyo, Japan in 2009. It is held once every two years, but in 2011 the tournament was canceled due to the Tohoku earthquake. Since 2013, it has been held in Japan every two years.
The six countries with the best results in one season’s ISU international competitions will stand on the stage for the Team Trophy. In the meantime, Korea has not been able to participate in this event due to the lack of ice dancing and pairs players.
However, this season, a pair of Jo Hye-jin (18) and Stephen Adcock (28, Canada) was formed. In addition, in ice dance, Haena Lim (19) and Quanye (22, Canada) have performed well in various international competitions and are qualified to participate in the team trophy.
The ISU announced the list of Korean athletes participating in this event on the 31st of last month. Cha Jun-hwan and Lee Si-hyeong (23, Korea University) compete in the men’s singles, while Kim Ye-rim (20, Dankook University) and Lee Hae-in (18, Sehwa Girls’ High School) participate in the women’s singles. Pairs and ice dance are handled by Jo Hye-jin and Adcock and Lim Hae-na and Quanye.
This year’s Team Trophy includes Korea, which ranked 4th in the national rankings this season, as well as Japan (1st), the United States (2nd), Canada (3rd), Italy (5th) and France (6th). In particular, the six participating countries will select a captain to lead the team.
South Korea was captained by Cha Jun-hwan. In Japan, Kaori Sakamoto, who won the women’s singles championship at the World Championships last month, wears the armband, while in the United States, Jason Brown of the men’s singles will lead the team. Piper Jill of Ice Dance for Canada, Kevin Aimoz of Men’s Singles for France, and Marco Fabri of Ice Dance for Italy were captains.
Cha Jun-hwan, 21 years old, is the youngest among the players who captained this team trophy. Also, the average age of the Korean team is 20 years old, the youngest among the participating countries. The oldest is Adcock of Fair, 27 years old (born on April 26, 1995), and the youngest is Jo Hye-jin, 17 years old (born on November 30, 2005). 메이저놀이터
In this competition, which started in 2009, the United States has won four times, Japan has won twice, and Russia has risen to the top in 2021. In this year’s tournament, Japan is a strong candidate to win. The men’s and women’s singles aces, Shoma Uno and Sakamoto, both won gold medals at the World Championships last month. Also in pairs, Miura Riku-Kihara Ryuichi Joe also reached the top of the World Championships.
The U.S., led by ‘Jump Machine’ Ilya Malinin, will also challenge for a fifth championship. Korea is expected to compete for third place with Canada, Italy and France.
The pair’s Hyejin Cho and Adcock pair will make their debut in an ISU-sanctioned international event. Ice dancing pair Haina Lim and Quanye won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships this season, but the key is to overcome the skill gap with the senior athletes due to the nature of the event.
Korea’s strength is that Cha Jun-hwan and Lee Hae-in, the silver medalists in the men’s and women’s singles world championships, are holding on. In addition, the women’s single silver medalists at the Four Continents Championships, Kim Ye-rim and Lee Si-hyung, are expected to perform well.
Male and female single players who are training in Korea will depart for Japan on the 11th. Haena Lim-Quanye, who is training in Canada, and Hyejin Cho, Adcock, will join from Japan.