You Young
You Young is a South Korean figure skater competing in the ladies' singles event. She is the 2020 Youth Olympic champion, the 2020 Four Continents silver medalist, and a four-time South Korean national champion. She became the youngest ever national champion of South Korea at age 11, surpassing the previous record set by Yuna Kim who won at age 12 in 2003. She is also the first Korean lady to successfully land a triple axel in international competition, and the first Korean lady to win the gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympics.
Previously, on the junior level, You won a bronze medal at the 2018 JGP Slovakia and twice finished within the top ten at the World Junior Championships.
You is the eleventh woman to successfully land a triple axel jump in international competition. Along with four other female skaters, she made history with the triple axel at several competitions during the 2019–20 season. At the 2019 Skate Canada, she became the third woman internationally to land four triple jumps in a short program - the maximum allowed under the Zayak rule - after Japan's Rika Kihira and Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. At the 2020 Youth Olympics, she landed the maximum eight clean triple jumps in the free skate for the first time, becoming the sixth skater to do so after Kihira, Mirai Nagasu of the United States, Tuktamysheva, Alysa Liu of the United States, and Alena Kostornaia of Russia. A month later, at the 2020 Four Continents, she landed the maximum possible twelve triple jumps between the short program and the free skate, becoming the fourth skater to do so after Tuktamysheva, Kihira, and Kostornaia.
She currently holds the fourth highest technical element score in the short program and the ninth highest technical element score in the free skate. She remains the first and only female skater to have had landed the jump at the Youth Olympics.
You is currently the 12th highest ranked ladies' singles skater in world by the International Skating Union following the 2019-20 figure skating season.
Personal life
You Young is the third child and only daughter of her father, You Il-jin, who runs a business in Indonesia, and mother, Lee Sook-hee. She moved to Indonesia at the age of two because of her father's business, and spent her youth in Singapore.Career
Early career
You Young began skating after watching Yuna Kim's victory at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Though maintaining South Korean nationality, she was raised in Singapore and trained under various coaches and competed in the Singapore National Figure Skating Championships from 2011 to 2013.One of her coaches was Singapore-based Zhang Wei, a former Chinese national ice dancer who won gold with partner Wang Rui at the 1999 Asian Winter Games, who she trained with for a six-month period in 2012. Zhang said her talent was evident even then and told TODAY: "She's not the most talented athlete I've coached. But her jumps, explosive energy, flexibility and coordination were very good then, and it is very rare that you get all these qualities in one athlete, particularly at that age." He is confident that You has what it takes to become a future world and Olympic champion. On his advice, You returned to South Korea with her mother in March 2013 to further her development as the training environment is better.
2015–2016 season: National title
In January 2016, You Young won the gold medal at the 2016 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, becoming the youngest ever national champion of South Korea at age 11, surpassing the previous record set by Yuna Kim who won at age 12 in 2003.In March, You won the gold medal at novice level of the Cup of Tyrol.
2016–2017 season
In November 2016, You won the silver medal at novice level of the Tallinn Trophy behind Alena Kanysheva of Russia.In January 2017, she finished fifth at the 2017 South Korean Figure Skating Championships mainly because of a fall in the short program.
2017–2018 season: Junior international debut
You debuted on the Junior Grand Prix series in September 2018, placing fourth at JGP Croatia in Zagreb. In October, she placed fifth at JGP Italy in Egna.In January 2018, she won the gold medal at the 2018 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, earning her second national title.
In March, You finished ninth at the 2018 World Junior Championships.
2018–2019 season: Third national title
In August 2018, You began competing on the JGP series, winning the bronze medal at JGP Slovakia in Bratislava, behind Russians Anna Shcherbakova and Anna Tarusina. It is currently her first and only JGP medal. She then placed fourth at JGP Canada in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.After earning her third national title, You was assigned to the 2019 World Junior Championships. In February 2019, she won gold at the 2019 Bavarian Open and the 2019 Winter Children of Asia ISG. After a poor short program at Junior Worlds that left her in eleventh place, You rose to sixth place overall with a stronger free skate. She commented "I’ve no regrets, I did my best."
2019–2020 season: Senior international debut
You opened her season at the 2019 Philadelphia Summer International, where she won the gold medal. You debuted on the Challenger series, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy behind Russians Anna Shcherbakova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva after she placed second in the short program and third in the free program. At this competition, she scored over 70 points in the short program, 130 points in the free skate, and 200 points overall for the first time in an ISU-sanctioned competition. One week later, You won the silver medal at another Challenger, the 2019 CS U.S. Classic, winning the free skate by scoring over 140 points for the first time. During this period, it was reported that You made a coaching change, with Mie Hamada becoming her primary coach along with Tammy Gambill.Making her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2019 Skate Canada International, You successfully landed a ratified triple Axel in the short program to place second behind new training mate Rika Kihira of Japan with a new personal best score. She noted that this was a moment she had been working toward for three years. In the free skate, she fell on another triple Axel attempt and placed fourth in the segment. Overall, her total score of 217.49 was enough for the bronze medal, after Alexandra Trusova and Kihira. You's success at Skate Canada led to her being given a second Grand Prix assignment, the 2019 Cup of China, where she placed fourth after mistakes in both programs.
You entered the 2020 South Korean Championships as the defending champion and, given her success on the international circuit, was favored to repeat her title. After placing first in both segments, she won the gold medal ahead of Lee Hae-in and Kim Ye-lim. She was assigned to the Korean teams for the 2020 World Championships along with Kim, and the 2020 Four Continents Championships with Kim and Lim Eun-soo.
Two weeks later, at the 2020 Youth Olympics in Lausanne, she placed first in the short program, a little less than 2 points ahead of Ksenia Sinitsyna of Russia. Because of different requirements for competitions at the junior level, she did not attempt a triple axel in the short program. She then won the free skate by over 12 points and won the title overall, landing eight clean triples in the free skate for the first time including a triple Axel and two triple Lutz combinations. By doing so, she ended Russia's winning streak in girls' singles at the Winter Youth Olympics, which included previous champions Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Polina Tsurskaya.
You returned to the senior level for the 2020 Four Continents Championships in February. She placed third in the short program behind Rika Kihira and Bradie Tennell after a mistake on her triple Axel and an unclear edge call on her triple flip. In the free skate, she delivered a strong performance to place second in the segment with a new personal best score. She landed all jumps cleanly with the exception of one underrotation on her triple flip. Her combined total was also a personal best, and she moved up to narrowly take the silver medal behind Kihira and ahead of Tennell. This competition was the first time she landed all twelve triple jumps possible under the Zayak rule. She expressed satisfaction with her performance overall, for landing the triple Axel, and for overcoming the pressure of performing for a home crowd, remarking that she became the first Korean skater to medal at Four Continents since Olympic Champion Yuna Kim won the event in 2009. You also said she would try " best to be the leading Korean skater" entering the 2020 World Championships.
Skating technique
You has landed the triple axel, triple axel-triple toeloop. She is known to practise quadruple lutz, quadruple salchow, and quadruple loop during practice.You successfully landed her first triple axel in competition during the Challenger Series at the 2019 Lombardia Trophy in Italy.
You is known to land difficult jump combinations. As of the 2019-2020 season, she actively competes with the triple axel, triple lutz-triple toeloop combination, triple lutz-euler-triple salchow sequence, and the double axel-triple toeloop combination.
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2019–2020 |
by Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong, Marius de Vries choreo. by Tom Dickson |
performed by Madonna choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne |
choreo. by Catarina Lindgren ---- |
| 2018–2019 |
by Andrew Lippa choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne | choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne ----
by Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner performed by Marni Nixon choreo. by Marina Zueva |
choreo. by Catarina Lindgren |
| 2017–2018 | by Jule Styne, Bob Merrill choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne | choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne | ---- by Martin Solveig, Martina Sorbara by Teddy Park performed by 2NE1 |
| 2016–2017 |
performed by David Hirschfelder & The Bogo Pogo Orchestra | choreo. by Shin Yea-ji | |
| 2015–2016 | Jewish Folk Music by various artists |
by Mychael Danna by Swedish House Mafia performed by The Piano Guys choreo. by Shin Yea-ji | by Robbie Williams |
| 2014–2015 |
by various artists | Romeo and Juliet:
|