Minkyu Seo

[zebobes]

Seo Min-kyu (서민규; born 14 October 2008) is a South Korean figure skater.

He is the 2024 Junior World champion, the 2023 South Korean national bronze medalist, the 2022 JGP Poland II bronze medalist, and the 2022 South Korean junior champion.

ISU Bio
Rink Results
Skating Scores
Wikipedia

ISU Personal Bests

Personal Best Total Score	231.30	09.09.2023	ISU JGP Istanbul 2023
Personal Best Score Short Program	80.58	07.09.2023	2024 Junior World Championships
Personal Best Score Free Skating	155.63	09.09.2023	ISU JGP Istanbul 2023

Programs

2023-2024
SP: Flower Dance by DJ Okawari, performed by LAYERS CLASSIC; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan
FS: Le temps des cathédrales (from Notre-Dame de Paris) by Luc Plamondon & Riccardo Cocciante, performed by Josh Groban; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan

2022-2023
SP: You Are My Destiny by Paul Anka; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan
FS: Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone, Andrea Morricone; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan

2021-2022
SP: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, performed by FJØRA, Tommee Profitt; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan
FS: Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone, Andrea Morricone; choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan

2019–2020
SP: Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven
FS: Jeon Woo-chi by Lee Pil-ho

Results

Event	Total​
2024 Junior World Championships	1
2024 South Korean Championships​	3​
2023 JGP Turkey​	1​
2023 JGP Thailand​	5​
2023 South Korean Championships​	3​
2022 Ranking Competition​	3​
2022 JGP Poland II​	3​
2022 JGP Czech Republic​	4​
2022 South Korean Championships​	1​
2021 Ranking Competition​	1​
2019 Asian Open Trophy​	6​

From the original post:

Minkyu appears to currently be going through a growth spurt, and is struggling to learn the triple axel, which may be why he only placed fifth place at JGP Bangkok. He barely missed out on the JGPF last year, and he also barely missed out on Junior Worlds, but he has that intangible quality to his skating that makes him pop and stand out, even when he has mistakes.

One positive about this season so far is that last year, he was constantly getting called for his flutz, and in his most recent competition, both the lutz in the short and the long were called clean!

His next competition will be at JGP Istanbul, where he will be up again against Rio Nakata, who just won the gold.

 

[Nafetaks]

There's a Korean video (with English subtitles) about him from may this year:

 

[zebobes]

Minkyu is currently in second after the short program in Istanbul. The top three are all very close in scores, but it's really impressive how high Minkyu's scores are considering he does not have a 3A in the SP. In Bangkok, he went for the 3A, but it got downgraded into a 2A, which really hurt him score wise, because he then zayaked with three 2A, losing the value for a great jump in the second half. I'm curious to see if he will try it again, if he switches out one of the 2A for a 3lo, or if he will go for skating clean.

 

[invisiblespiral]

Minkyu has a 3a now!

What would have to happen for him to get into the JGPF?

 

[zebobes]

Minkyu has a 3a now!

Yeah, and it was so beautiful considering it was his first successful 3a in competition! When the program began and he began the long approach to 3a, I admit I didn't think he would land it, and I felt my whole body tense up for the failure... and then he landed it!

I only just watched the video that @Nafetaks shared the other day, and I was somewhat shocked to see that his father opened up a gym specifically to train Minkyu and other skaters on off ice, and they showed interesting clips of his training in preparation for the 3a. That is quite the investment for his mom to be his coach and his father to be his off-ice trainer.

What would have to happen for him to get into the JGPF?

There have been skaters with the same points as him in the past who have either gotten into the final as the last qualifier, or ended up as one of the substitutes. Where Minkyu will get into trouble is if there are more than 5 gold or silver medalists who medal again in their second competition. The fewer repeat medalists, the better for Minkyu... but Minkyu would still outscore a double bronze. He has a good chance, but he will likely have to wait till the last competition before he will know for sure.

 

[Nafetaks]

 

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[elbkup]

Exquisite performance.. his technical is amazing but he has delicacy added to strength.. looking forward to the FS

 

[zebobes]

Congrats to the new junior world champion! His season had ups and downs (missing the jgpf and Youth Olympics), but he managed to grow and improve until he reached this point, with triple axels in both the short and the free!

I also got to see this performance in person, so it was especially memorable.

 

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[zebobes]

Here's a fun program from Minkyu back in 2015! What a cute program.