Park So-Youn: The teen tipped to be South Korea's 'next Kim Yu-Na' | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Park So-Youn: The teen tipped to be South Korea's 'next Kim Yu-Na'

Imagine

Medalist
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
She's okay...pretty, but a bit boring at this point in time. Though there is great potential in her, she's far from Kim's caliber. Personally, I think she is a complete non-factor in the upcoming Olympic cycle...but who knows. With Yuna out of the mix, resources can be directed towards her if they want a contender for the home games. Still...I get the impression that South Korea cares more about Yuna as an extraordinary athlete, rather than for the sport as a whole. Along with Park, it seems like their focus is to turn out as many Yuna clones as they can....which is obviously failing. Yuna was truly special, but I'd rather see some unique personalities out there rather than subpar copies of her.

The article just really makes things worse because they make it sound like she is the second coming of Yuna or something...like she was just barely behind Yuna getting second at the nationals and will be replacing Yuna to full capacity. In reality, Kim Yuna was already one of the best in the world at the same age, and totally not in the same league. This will create unnecessary pressure on young Park to live up to this sweeping assumption that she is Kim reincarnate...forcing her to become a second rate version of someone else. If she fails, she will definitely get bashed and it won't be her fault. I really hope that this will not happen because she can be extraordinary with the right programs. In fact, I actually prefer her silent, graceful style to the explosive command of Yuna (she does share some qualities with Shizuka, who I really enjoyed). Technically, she is already solid, although spins and such things can be improved. If they can play to her strengths, they won't need to make her a Yuna clone to have a legitimate contender for 2018.
 

yyyskate

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
I think SoYoun and her team is grounded, with approachable goals, As written in this article, the most important thing is not any medals but keep from injury. Korea could be called figure skating desert country before Yuna. Yuna is a gift. She only get attention after she became successful internationally, I dont think KSF helped her and only build her as this extraordinary super star and ignore other skaters.
Actually, After Yuna's success and resources coming with this success, Skaters like SoYoun and future youngsters are being supported better.
also, I dont think there is any indication that Korean wanna SoYoun to copy Yuna's style. SoYoun's programs are all designed to suits her and giving her certain level of challenge which is important for her development. To claim that she is a cheap copy without carefully watching her programs, is not responsible. I also dont sense anything from this article that they wanna make SoYoun as a Yuna copy skating wise.
SoYoun is not a top tier skater as a junior, but she showed many great and unique quality, also she is developing and improving.
Wish her good luck and just do her best with confidence in the future like this article said.
something else, since figure skating only started become popular after Yuna's success in Korean, most little girls joined this sports are still at about 10 years old range. And from video of those kids, they all are different, there is no need to worry about Yuna copies.
 
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gravy

¿No ven quién soy yo?
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Don't like "so-and-so is the next so-and-so" titles for anyone. Let them be themselves.

I do have a soft spot for So Youn though-- I fell in love with her after her LP at Worlds in Saitama. There's definitely potential to move up, but she has to control her nerves and deliver time after time.
 

clippers8200

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 2, 2014
Any word on her programs for next year?

I agree that she would benefit from training overseas.

Edit: Based on the video, it looks like she's keeping her SP from last year.
 
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Ophelia

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
Ugh she's keeping her SP? She's not suited for music such as Rondo Capriccioso. She skates it as if she were skating to Saint Saens The Swan instead.
 

yyyskate

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
^^ She also happened to skate "the Swan" just a season before Rondo. Would you mind to watch her Swan and Rondo in a row (I recomend 2014 wc Swan and 2014 KN version Rando the cleanest). if you still think that she interpreted them similarly, then good for you. I have no more words.
 

RABID

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Sometimes it seems she is criticized for her similarities with Yuna like that is a bad thing. I could understand if she was copying Yuna but I don't think she is. Like Michelle influenced Kim, Kim influences and inspires SoYoun. I think her skating is lovely. She just lacks Kim's competitive brilliance. I'm Canadian and have no affiliation with Korea or any other nation. It is the skater that attracts me and obviously Yuna Kim blew me over and made me rabid for her. I do think SoYoun has the potential to make me rabid over her as well, but she needs to develop more fire (or something) I think to ground her and thereby see a program through to its conclusion. Have this feeling this next season will give a truer indication of her career trajectory towards 2018.
 

andyjo24

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Okay, so I'd like to say that I am a huge fan of So Youn. She is so lovely, with delicate arms and an excellent feel for the music. Her jumps have excellent technique (I actually consider her 3S to be one of the best, if not the best, in the business). I definitely do feel that she can move up and become a possible medal contender in 2018. Only if she stops headcasing in the short program. It's well known that skaters in the last group get higher PCS scores (Ex. Look at Joshi Helgesson. She usually gets near the mid-50s in PCS and even got a 56 in 2015 Europeans, but in Worlds, she only got a 49 due to being in an early group. So Youn also got a 54 in Skate America being in the last group but in 4cc and Worlds, she only got 51 for being in an early group), so So Youn must knock it out of the park (no pun intended) in the short to get a better placement in the long and thereby receive higher PCS.

Like many others, I agree that So Youn appears to be slow sometimes, and her SS is not always solid, so if she can work on that, that, too, will definitely boost her PCS. I hope she doesn't forget to work on those!

The next season will be a very good indicator of whether she will be moving up, or ..... moving down. I hope it's not the latter. I look forward to seeing her live at 2016 Worlds!
 
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LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Sometimes it seems she is criticized for her similarities with Yuna like that is a bad thing. I could understand if she was copying Yuna but I don't think she is. Like Michelle influenced Kim, Kim influences and inspires SoYoun. I think her skating is lovely. She just lacks Kim's competitive brilliance. I'm Canadian and have no affiliation with Korea or any other nation. It is the skater that attracts me and obviously Yuna Kim blew me over and made me rabid for her. I do think SoYoun has the potential to make me rabid over her as well, but she needs to develop more fire (or something) I think to ground her and thereby see a program through to its conclusion. Have this feeling this next season will give a truer indication of her career trajectory towards 2018.

I like So Youn - and I don't think she needs to change her style of skating, as it suits her very well.

I do think comparisons to Yuna are detrimental to her, though, in that the comparisons will always be to So Youn's disadvantage. Instead of looking at her own achievements and capablities, if she's constantly compared to Yuna, she will always be "not as good/great as". (Just as an example, if she were to win Olympic bronze, that would be a great achievement for most skaters - but if she is to be compared to Yuna, she will have fallen short, because it wasn't gold.) Which is not fair to her at all, and puts undue pressure on her. Not only the pressure of competition, which all skaters have to deal with, but also the pressure of having to try to live up to something she can never be - someone else. As I've been glad to see many say in the thread: Let So Youn be So Youn. I'm sure she'll be brilliant at it.:)
 

lyverbird1

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
She's doomed to never live up to expectations thanks to labels like this being put upon her. There is only ever one of ANY skater. Leave her alone to develop as her own skater without nationality or any other reason dictating what she should be expected to do.
 

paperhearts

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 18, 2014
Unfortunately, I think the "next Yuna Kim" title will be given to any S.Korean skater who has an inkling of potential to break into the elite rans, which is a huge burden IMO. I'm pretty sure there was a documentary circa. 2009 about Rebekah Kim being the next Yuna Kim, and she never did live up to that title as a singles' skater. I also saw some news videos calling Junehyoung a "female Yuna Kim". Ah, what a big burden for these kids. :no: We can only hope that they won't let these titles put too much pressure on them and instead use it as motivation.

Oh well, we can't avoid comparisons. :eek:hwell: When your predecessor is an Olympic champion and World champion, that's got to be a mountain of expectation on your shoulders. I wish Soyoun well and I truly hope she has a breakout next season!
 

elee63

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 22, 2013
This article must put a lot of pressure on her, she is not as strong mentally as Yuna, I will be happy if she can place top 10 at Worlds and/or Olympics. Yuna at her age had stronger spins and I liked her presentation a lot better but some skaters are late bloomers so we'll never know.



I agree with this, there are things I see in So Youn's skating that is borrowed from Yuna, might have to do with David Wilson but she's got that bent free leg for the layback that I find really unattractive and the poor extension on the arabesque spiral. Now Yuna is a skater who was (is?) immensely talented and beautiful to watch but that doesn't mean everything she does is perfect, stuff like the bent leg and non-pointed toes don't look very good. Since So Youn has a ballet background I expected better in that department.

I wouldn't blame Soyoun for that, as much as the Korean skating coaches, who don't emphasize technicalities of that sort. Ballet background or no, if you're coach is not telling you to fix tiny details like that, the flaws will remain. Dick Button (I believe) always used to give Yuna hell for that :p heh.
 

Krunchii

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
I wouldn't blame Soyoun for that, as much as the Korean skating coaches, who don't emphasize technicalities of that sort. Ballet background or no, if you're coach is not telling you to fix tiny details like that, the flaws will remain. Dick Button (I believe) always used to give Yuna hell for that :p heh.

I don't know exactly who to blame, I agree that Korean coaches probably don't emphasize it much since Yuna still did great but she could compensate for it with deep edges in the spiral and her her spins weren't off center or anything. But the thing is, I can't remember what competition but it was when Brian and Yuna were still a team and they were at the boards and Brian was reminding Yuna to point her toes more. But her toe point only got marginally better as the years went on, I don't know if So Youn lacks back flexibility like Yuna did but as long as skaters like Anna Pogorilaya and Eliza T. still get their levels and +GOE with mediocre spins then I don't think coaches in Korea will ever care lol
 

RABID

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
This article must put a lot of pressure on her, she is not as strong mentally as Yuna, I will be happy if she can place top 10 at Worlds and/or Olympics. Yuna at her age had stronger spins and I liked her presentation a lot better but some skaters are late bloomers so we'll never know.



I agree with this, there are things I see in So Youn's skating that is borrowed from Yuna, might have to do with David Wilson but she's got that bent free leg for the layback that I find really unattractive and the poor extension on the arabesque spiral. Now Yuna is a skater who was (is?) immensely talented and beautiful to watch but that doesn't mean everything she does is perfect, stuff like the bent leg and non-pointed toes don't look very good. Since So Youn has a ballet background I expected better in that department.

That "bent leg" is on purpose. Dick Button, you and others may not like it but fans LOVE IT! I certainly do.
 

Krunchii

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
That "bent leg" is on purpose. Dick Button, you and others may not like it but fans LOVE IT! I certainly do.

Of course it's on purpose, she's copying the way Yuna did it, that bent leg looks lazy and doesn't make for a nice body line. Kim Hae-jin has a straight leg when she does hers which looks a lot better. If you like it good for you but there's a reason why other skaters are getting better GOEs than So Youn are different elements and So Youn's coaches need to fix that in order for her to challenge anything
 

yyyskate

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
SoYoun is doing that free leg position since junior, why do you insist that she is copying Yuna, Why didnot Haejin copy Yuna (isn't that Korean skaters will be automatically dubbed Yuna copy by haters no matter what). I see many difference between SoYoun's layback and Yuna's layback beyond that leg bend.
It is perhaps, her best position within her ability to achieve the best quality of layback spin required by IJS, which is not judged by leg bending. Leg bending is more of choice of style, You will see many current great lay-back spinners who has no free leg turn-out position at all, such as Zijun and Radio.
Her layback spin in her Rando SP program suits that fast music phrasing perfectly with amazing speed is one improvement I saw of her layback spin and that is 1 bullet from GOE judgement.
Of course, she can change her layback to a different perhaps aesthetically more pleasing position to you in the future (so will losing weight, so as body type, so as blonde hair to some people). But there are many area of her skating she can certainly challenge which has nothing to do with layback free leg bending, which perhaps will actually help her skating and result (as mentioned in this article). I think those perhaps will be her better areas of focus, dont you think?
 
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Krunchii

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
SoYoun is doing that free leg position since junior, why do you insist that she is copying Yuna, Why didnot Haejin copy Yuna (isn't that Korean skaters will be automatically dubbed Yuna copy by haters no matter what). I see many difference between SoYoun's layback and Yuna's layback beyond that leg bend.
It is perhaps, her best position within her ability to achieve the best quality of layback spin required by IJS, which is not judged by leg bending. Leg bending is more of choice of style, You will see many current great lay-back spinners who has no free leg turn-out position at all, such as Zijun and Radio.
Her layback spin in her Rando SP program suits that fast music phrasing perfectly with amazing speed is one improvement I saw of her layback spin and that is 1 bullet from GOE judgement.
Of course, she can change her layback to a different perhaps aesthetically more pleasing position to you in the future (so will losing weight, so as body type, so as blonde hair to some people). But there are many area of her skating she can certainly challenge which has nothing to do with layback free leg bending, which perhaps will actually help with her result (as mentioned in this article). I think those perhaps will be her better areas of focus, dont you think?

Yuna is my favourite ladies skater of all time so I find it ironic that I'm being referred to as a Yuna hater for saying So Youn takes after Yuna, I listed the poor leg lines (and used the layback as an example) as one of the the things that Korean skaters take after Yuna because they coaches think that it is not as big of an area to be focused on when I think it should. So Youn still puts her free hand on her leg in order to centre herself properly in her spins and I think it needs to be fixed because I genuinely want her to challenge all the top skaters in the future.

Mediocre jumpers like Yulia can make up for lost points with fantastic spins and I think it's important for So Youn who comes from a weak federation to improve upon all aspects because she doesn't have the luxury that some other skaters have when they make mistakes. Just look at Worlds 2014, only skater to not get any deductions on her jumps but the judges wouldn't even put her past 120, compare her skate to some of the other ladies that night and she's at a huge disadvantage. In order for her to start getting higher PCs she's going to need to brush up on everything

Zijun and Elena don't have the free leg but it looks fine because nothing is bent and the focus is on their great back bend
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Country
United-States
So Youn just needs to show a bit more attack. She has gorgeous movements but lacks commitment or definitive execution to them IMO. I don't think she's much like Yuna myself because Yuna made simple gestures look worthy of +3 goe for things like her choreography. That really translates well into PCS scores. It's not like I'm saying So Youn has a weak presentation it's just very different from Yuna outside of a few gestures usually during the start and stop points of the program.

I agree with the posters that oppose the concept of a skater being the "next great hope" type of thing. Totally unnecessary. There are very strong up and coming Korean skaters in the pipeline...let's not put any extra pressure on them.
 
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yyyskate

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Yuna is my favourite ladies skater of all time so I find it ironic that I'm being referred to as a Yuna hater for saying So Youn takes after Yuna, I listed the poor leg lines (and used the layback as an example) as one of the the things that Korean skaters take after Yuna because they coaches think that it is not as big of an area to be focused on when I think it should. So Youn still puts her free hand on her leg in order to centre herself properly in her spins and I think it needs to be fixed because I genuinely want her to challenge all the top skaters in the future.

Mediocre jumpers like Yulia can make up for lost points with fantastic spins and I think it's important for So Youn who comes from a weak federation to improve upon all aspects because she doesn't have the luxury that some other skaters have when they make mistakes. Just look at Worlds 2014, only skater to not get any deductions on her jumps but the judges wouldn't even put her past 120, compare her skate to some of the other ladies that night and she's at a huge disadvantage. In order for her to start getting higher PCs she's going to need to brush up on everything

Zijun and Elena don't have the free leg but it looks fine because nothing is bent and the focus is on their great back bend

Why do you have to say that Korean skater's leg line is learned from Yuna??? SoYoun has great pointed toes in her jumps and Y spins yet Yuna didnot do, Yuna has very free and agile leg movement control with a whole lot of leg movement range, which could create lines of all sorts of types, Soyoun hasn't got that ability yet.

She of course is brushing up on everything, I believe every skater is trying to improve all aspect of their skating as much as possible, yet born as a Korean is not her fault. I believe, if all of a sudden she can spin as fast and as flexible as Julia, She definitely will. Just like Julia would rather jump more solid jump if she can manage to.

So why didn't you say that SoYoun should fix her back bend, instead of saying her leg bend, Yuna has a great back bend when she was at SoYoun's age. So why do you focus on their leg bend? so that you can say SoYoun (or even korean skaters) copy bad leg lines from Yuna?!
 
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