Shin Ji-a (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 신지아; born 19 March 2008) is a South Korean

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She is the 2023 South Korean national champion. At the junior level, she is a two-time World Junior silver medalist (

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

and

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

), the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a three-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, and the 2021 South Korean junior champion.

Career

Early years

Shin began learning to skate in 2015, having been inspired by Kim Yu-na. She won the national junior gold medal at the 2021 South Korean Championships.

2021–22 season: Junior World silver

Making her international debut on the

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

at the 2021 JGP Slovenia in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, Shin finished in sixth place. The following week, she competed in her second event on the circuit, the 2021 JGP Poland in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. She ranked second in the short program and third in the long due to a fall on the opening triple lutz. Shin won the bronze medal with only a 0.03 point gap from silver medalist

Elizaveta Kulikova Elizaveta is a village in the municipality of Bălți in the north of Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west ...

. In her first senior event, Shin was fourth at the 2022 South Korean Championships. Shin was assigned to compete at the 2022 World Junior Championships, but events would soon complicate the situation. Shortly after the conclusion of the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

Russia invaded Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. As a result, the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

banned all Russian athletes from competing at ISU championships. As Russian women had dominated international figure skating in recent years, this had a significant impact on the field. Due to both the invasion and the Omicron variant, the World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

in early March and were rescheduled for mid-April in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. Shin finished second in the short program, 3.12 points behind segment leader

Isabeau Levito Isabeau Levito (born March 3, 2007) is an American figure skater. She is the 2022–23 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time ISU Grand Prix silver medalist, the 2022 CS Nepela Memorial champion, the 2023 U.S. national champion, and the ...

of the United States. She went on to win the free skate, taking a gold small medal for that segment but remained in second overall behind Levito by 0.54 points. She was only the second South Korean to win a World Junior medal, the first one being Yuna Kim.

2022–23 season: JGP Final and Junior World silver, first national title

Shin began the season on the

, winning the gold medal at the 2022 JGP Latvia in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. This included a new personal best in the short program, clearing 70 points in that segment for the first time. At her second event, the second of two Polish Junior Grand Prixes held in

, she won the silver medal behind Japanese skater

Ami Nakai is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2023 World Junior bronze medalist, a three-time gold medalist on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (at the 2022 JGP Poland II, the 2023 JGP Thailand, and the 2023 JGP Turkey), and the 2022–23 Japanese junio ...

. With a total of 28 points, Shin qualified to the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final. After winning the national ranking competition in

Uijeongbu Uijeongbu () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Overview Uijeongbu is located north of the Korean capital Seoul; it lies inside a Defile (geography), defile, with mountains on two sides, and com ...

in early December, Shin traveled to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

the following week for the Junior Grand Prix Final. She skated a clean short program, placing second just 0.55 points behind the leader, Japan's

Mao Shimada is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2022 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist, the 2022 Japanese national bronze medalist, and a two-time Japanese junior national champion (2021–2022). She is ...

. Referring to performing again so soon after the ranking competition, Shin said she was "really tired, but it's OK." She was second in the free skate and also second overall, saying she was "satisfied with the result, the clean program, and the silver medal." She and bronze medalist Kim Chae-yeon were the first Korean women to medal since Kim Yu-na in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. She reflected on Kim as her inspiration, noting "I want to follow her path.". Shin placed second in the short program at the 2023 South Korean Championships, behind Kim Ye-lim, after stepping out of her jump combination. She won the free skate despite colliding with the boards attempting the same jump combination, and overtook Kim to take the gold medal. Due to her ineligibility for senior competition, Shin was assigned to finish her season at the 2023 World Junior Championships in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Entering as the defending silver medalist, she finished second in the short program with a new personal best 71.19, 0.59 points behind segment leader Shimada. She cleanly landed most of her jumps in the free skate, only to fall at the end of her choreographic sequence and take a one-point deduction. She finished narrowly second in the segment, just ahead of Nakai, and won her second consecutive Junior World silver medal. Calling this "a great highlight" after having felt sick earlier in the week, she also announced plans to work with veteran choreographer David Wilson on programs for the following season.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Detailed results

Junior results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Ji-a 2008 births South Korean female single skaters Living people Sportspeople from Busan World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists