South Korean figure skater Lee Hae-in performs her free skate program during the first leg of the national team trials at Uijeongbu Indoor Ice Rink in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul, on Dec. 1, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean figure skater Lee Hae-in has earned a ticket to an international competition set for next year in Seoul after returning from suspension over the weekend.
Lee finished fifth in the women’s singles at the national ranking competition, which doubled as the first leg of the 2025-2026 national team trials, on Sunday with a total of 190.64 points. She had 60.45 points from the short program and 130.19 points from the free skate.
The top three finishers received spots for the 2025 International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, scheduled to take place next February in Seoul. The competition for skaters from non-European countries is limited to those who were at least 17 years old before July 1 of the previous year.
Among the eligible skaters Sunday, Lee, 19, had the third-highest score behind the champion Kim Chae-yeon and Yun Ah-sun, both of them 17.
Lee, the 2023 Four Continents champion and world silver medalist, had been suspended for three years by the Korea Skating Union (KSU) in June after being accused of sexually harassing an underage male teammate during a national team training camp in Italy in May.
Lee countered that she could not have harassed her teammate because they were in a romantic relationship and filed an injunction at the Seoul Eastern District Court to pause the ban. The Seoul court granted her request on Nov. 12, which allowed Lee to skate at the national team trials over the weekend.
After qualifying for the Four Continents, Lee stood before cameras and read from a prepared statement, saying she will try to become “a more mature and more responsible athlete.”
“I went through an extremely difficult period but it was also a valuable learning experience,” Lee said. “This event was more than just a competition. It was a new starting point for me. I have regained a precious spot on the national team and I will bear that weight in its entirety. And this is also my first step toward a sincere apology to all the fans who have always believed in me.”
Lee said she learned a great deal from her ordeal both as an athlete and as a person, adding, “I will make sure something like that never happens again.”
Lee, who fell short in the national team trials for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, said her long-term goal is to qualify for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
“I’ve been thinking it’d be great to skate at an Olympic Games someday,” Lee said. “No matter how things play out, I will set my sights on making it to the Olympics.”
Even though Lee took the KSU to court over her suspension, she said she wasn’t trying to pick a fight with the national governing body.
“I just wanted to right the wrong for myself,” she added. “They play such an important role in developing skating, and I’d like to build a positive relationship with them.”
(Yonhap)
