Kwon Min-sol

In this Korean name, the family name is Kwon.

Kwon Min-sol
Native name권민솔
Other namesMinsol Kwon
Born (2009-02-18) 18 February 2009 (age 15)
Seoul, South Korea
HometownSeoul
Height1.50 m (4 ft 11 in)
Figure skating career
Country South Korea
Skating clubGranite Club
Began skating2015

Kwon Min-sol (Korean: 권민솔; born 18 February 2009) is a South Korean figure skater. She is a four-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist and the 2022 South Korean junior champion. She placed fifth at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Kwon was born on 18 February 2009, in Seoul, South Korea.[1] In addition to figure skating, Kwon also practices rhythmic gymnastics as a way to improve her flexibility.[2]

Career

Early years

Kwon began figure skating in 2014 at the age of six after being inspired by watching Yuna Kim perform at the 2014 Winter Olympics. From 2015 to 2018, Kwon was a flower girl at several international figure skating competitions in South Korea.[2]

She began competing in major domestic competitions during the 2021–22 season and won the national junior gold medal at the 2022 South Korean Championships.[2][1]

2022–23 season: International junior debut

Making her international debut on the Junior Grand Prix at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic in Ostrava, Kwon skated a clean short program.[3] In the free skate, her only error was an unclear edge call on the Lutz in her triple jump combination. She won the silver medal behind Japan's Mao Shimada.[4][5] Kwon went on to win the bronze medal at her second event, the 2022 JGP Poland II, and qualify for the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.[6] She finished fifth at the Final.[7]

Kwon finished fifth in her first appearance at the senior South Korean Championships.[1] As a result she was assigned to the 2023 World Junior Championships, placing sixth in the short program.[8] She set a new personal best score of 128.24 in the free skate, finishing fifth in that segment and rising to fifth place overall. Commenting on the positive reception of her Cats program all season, she added that "I love my program, because I love animals, especially cats. Unfortunately, I don't have my own cat."[9][10]

Following the season, Kwon switched coaches from Choi Hyung-kyung to Chi Hyun-jung.[11] She spent two months of the off-season training in Canada under Lee Barkell.[12]

2023–24 season

In late July, Kwon competed at the 2023 South Korean ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers, winning the silver medal behind Shin Ji-a. Her performances earned her two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.[13] At the 2023 JGP Austria, Kwon placed eighth in the short program after failing to execute her jump combination, but a second-place free skate lifted her to the bronze medal.[14] At her second event, the 2023 JGP Poland, she won the silver medal.[15]

She then competed at the senior national ranking competition, where she finished fifth overall.[16]

Kwon qualified to the Junior Grand Prix Final for the second consecutive season, where she came sixth. Saying she was happy with her performance, she said her biggest developmental focus was on improving her skating skills, as well as trying to master the triple Axel jump.[12]

At the 2024 South Korean Championships, Kwon would place sixth.[1]

2024–2025 season

In July, Kwon was noticeably absent from the 2024 South Korean ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers competition and thus did not compete on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.[17] One month later, it was announced that Kwon had been registered to compete in the senior women's category at the 2024 Ontario Sectional Series and that she would be representing the Granite Club in Toronto.[18][19] Regarding this, Skate Canada put out a statement saying that as of October 2024, Kwon had not issued a request for release from the Korea Skating Union, making her ineligible to compete 2025 Canadian Championships. She would, however, be allowed to compete in Canadian domestic competitions that were non-qualifying events.[20]

Competing at the 2024 Ontario Sectional Series in mid-October, Kwon won the silver medal.[21]

Programs

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2024–2025
[22][2]
2023–2024
[11]
2022–2023
[23]
2021–2022

Competitive highlights

For Canada

Event 24–25
National
Ontario Sec. 2nd

For South Korea

JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[1]
Event 21–22 22–23 23–24
Junior Worlds 5th
JGP Final 5th 6th
JGP Austria 3rd
JGP Czech Republic 2nd
JGP Poland 3rd 2nd
National[1]
South Korea 1st J 5th 6th
Ranking Comp. 1st J 4th 5th
J = Junior level

Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System [24]
Segment Type Score Event
Total TSS 191.06 2023 World Junior Championships
Short program TSS 66.81 2022 JGP Poland
TES 38.41 2022 JGP Poland
PCS 28.56 2023 World Junior Championships
Free skating TSS 128.24 2023 World Junior Championships
TES 67.72 2022 JGP Czech Republic
PCS 62.09 2023 World Junior Championships

Senior results

2024–25 season
Date Event SP FS Total
October 17–20, 2024 2024 Ontario Sectional Series 1
62.36 		2
103.61 		2
165.97
2023–24 season
Date Event SP FS Total
January 4–7, 2024 2024 South Korean Championships 5
66.01 		6
131.02 		6
197.03
2022–23 season
Date Event SP FS Total
January 5–8, 2023 2023 South Korean Championships 8
64.51 		4
131.92 		5
196.43

Junior results

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

2023–24 season
Date Event SP FS Total
December 7–10, 2023 2023–24 JGP Final 6
62.12 		6
120.94 		6
183.06
September 27–30, 2023 2023 JGP Poland 3
64.00 		2
119.52 		2
183.52
August 30–September 2, 2023 2023 JGP Austria 8
50.10 		2
115.83 		3
165.93
2022–23 season
Date Event SP FS Total
February 27–March 5, 2023 2023 World Junior Championships 6
62.82 		5
128.24 		5
191.06
December 8–11, 2022 2022–23 JGP Final 5
59.91 		5
115.52 		5
175.43
October 5–8, 2022 2022 JGP Poland II 2
66.81 		4
119.82 		3
186.63
August 31–September 3, 2022 2022 JGP Czech Republic 2
62.73 		2
126.64 		2
189.37
2021–22 season
Date Event SP FS Total
January 7–9, 2022 2022 South Korean Junior Championships 1
56.89 		1
111.02 		1
167.91

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Minsol KWON: Competition results". International Skating Union. 8 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d 김, 현진. "[인터뷰] 꽃을 전하는 아이에서 마음을 전하는 피겨스케이팅 국가대표로, 피겨 권민솔". MFocus. MFocus. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  3. ^ "JGP Ostrava 2022 Judges Details Per Skater, Women's Short Program" (PDF). International Skating Union.
  4. ^ "JGP Ostrava 2022 Judges Details Per Skater, Women's Free Skate" (PDF). International Skating Union.
  5. ^ "Newcomers dominate at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Ostrava (CZE)". International Skating Union. 5 September 2022.
  6. ^ "More Skaters secure spots for the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final". International Skating Union. 10 October 2022.
  7. ^ McCarvel, Nick (9 December 2022). "Junior Grand Prix Final - Shimada Mao captures title, becoming first Japanese woman to do so in 13 years". Olympic Channel.
  8. ^ "Lioness Mao Shimada (JPN) begins her gold medal hunt in the Junior World Women's Short Program". International Skating Union. 2 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Spectacular Mao Shimada (JPN) soars to World Junior title". International Skating Union. 4 March 2023.
  10. ^ Slater, Paula (4 March 2023). "Mao Shimada impresses in Calgary; takes Junior World title". Golden Skate. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Minsol KWON: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. 25 August 2024. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024.
  12. ^ a b Slater, Paula (8 December 2023). "Shimada defends Junior Grand Prix Final title". Golden Skate. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  13. ^ Cho, Young-joon (23 July 2023). "'Junior Ace of Figure Skating' Shin Jia wins the Junior Grand Prix Qualifying Tournament". SPOTV News. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  14. ^ "Gold medals at ISU Junior Grand Prix in Linz (AUT) go to Korea, Slovakia, Canada and Germany". International Skating Union. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  15. ^ "Figure Skaters grab eight more tickets to the Final at ISU Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk (POL)". International Skating Union. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  16. ^ "Ranking Competition - Senior Women Results". Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Junior Grand Prix Selection Competition 2024". X. Skating Korea. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Minsol Kwon appears on the Ontario Sectional Series entry list for October representing Granite Club". X. Anything GOEs. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Sectional Series October - October 17 to October 20, 2024" (PDF). Skate Ontario. Skate Ontario. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  20. ^ Gallagher, Jack. "独占：韓国のジュニアスケーター、#クォン・ミンソル はカナダを公式に代表していません。スケートカナダからの声明：「彼女は今のところリリースを要求していません。スケートカナダの規則に従って、彼女はカナダで非予選イベントに出場することが許可されています。」". X. Sports Japan. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Sectional Series October - Senior Women Results" (PDF). Skate Ontario. Skate Ontario. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Minsol KWON: 2024/2025". International Skating Union. 25 August 2024. Archived from the original on 23 August 2024.
  23. ^ "Minsol KWON: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Minsol KWON". Skating Scores. Skating Scores. Retrieved 29 January 2024.