Key Highlights :
1. South Korea ranked second after the first day of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Team Trophy in Figure Skating on Thursday.
2. Lee Hae-in, the reigning world silver medalist in the women's singles, won the short program with a personal-best 76.90 points at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo.
3. By finishing first in her discipline, Lee scored 12 ranking points for South Korea. Her previous personal-best score of 73.62 points had been set at the world championships last month.
4. Cha Jun-hwan, who'd also won silver at the world championships last month, set a new personal-best with 101.33 points to finish second in the short program. Cha, whose previous career high was 99.64 points from the world championships, is the first South Korean figure skater to top the century mark in the short program at an ISU event.
5. Lee Si-hyeong picked up three ranking points by finishing 10th in the men's short program.
6. In the ice dance, Hannah Lim and Quan Ye scored seven ranking points by finishing sixth in the rhythm dance.
7. With 39 points overall, South Korea is in second place, 11 back of the United States.
South Korea ranked second after the first day of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Team Trophy in Figure Skating on Thursday. The country’s top skaters, Yuna Kim and Kim Yuna, both delivered career-best performances in the team event. Kim Yuna set a new personal best in the short program with a score of 97.61, while Kim also placed first in the free program with a total score of 159.06.
The ISU World Team Trophy is a team event that was first held in 1957. It is the biggest international figure skating competition in the world. The event consists of a short program, a free program, and a combined total score. The top three skaters in the short program and free program are awarded with points, and the team with the most points at the end of the competition is the winner.
South Korea has won the World Team Trophy twice, in 1985 and 2001. Canada has won the competition the most times, with six victories. Russia, Sweden, and Japan are the other countries that have won the World Team Trophy.
