Kim Chae-yeon performs during the women's singles games at the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, Feb. 23. Yonhap
Kim Chae-yeon captured the women's singles title at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul on Sunday, putting on another flawless performance only 10 days after winning the gold medal at the Asian Winter Games in China.
The 18-year-old South Korean scored a personal-best 148.36 points in the free skate of the International Skating Union (ISU) event at Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul, for a total of 222.38 points, also a new career high.
Kim had won the short program with a new personal-best 74.02 points on Friday and continued to rewrite her personal record book with a clean and poised free skate on Sunday.
Kim had won silver at the 2024 Four Continents, a competition open to all non-European skaters.
In winning her first Asian Games gold medal in Harbin on Feb. 13, Kim scored 71.88 points in the short program, 147.56 points in the free skate and 219.44 points overall -- all of them her then-personal highs at a non-ISU competition.
In ISU events, Kim's previous best free skate score was 144.02 points set at the Shanghai Trophy in October 2024, while her top overall score was 214.74 points, also from the Shanghai event.
Bradie Tennell of the United States finished a distant second with 204.38 points after posting the second-highest free skate score of the day with 137.80.
Another American, Sarah Everhardt of the United States, finished third with 200.03 points.
Mone Chiba of Japan, who had the second-highest score in the short program with 71.20 points, finished sixth overall with 195.08 points after scoring just 123.88 points in a sloppy free skate.
Kim had a pristine scorecard. She opened her program, set to "Whisperers from the Heart" and "Love Dance," with a clean double axel, and off she went.
Kim followed that with a triple lutz and a triple flip-double toe loop-double loop combination.
She landed her triple salchow cleanly and performed a clean flying change-foot combination spin.
More flawless jumps followed in the latter half of the program, including a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination and a triple flip as her final jump element.
Kim Chae-yeon celebrates after winning the women's singles title at the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, Feb. 23. Yonhap
Kim had nearly an eight-point lead on Tennell after the short program and the South Korean's victory hardly seemed in doubt once she finished. The only question was how big Kim's margin of win would be and she enjoyed a comfortable, 18-point win. It was the most lopsided result in the women's singles at Four Continents since Satoko Miyahara of Japan beat Mirai Nagasu of the United States by 21.05 points in 2016.
Kim will next compete at the ISU world championships in Boston next month. She is the reigning bronze medalist.
Kim, Lee Hae-in and Yun Ah-sun will represent at the worlds, where Olympic quota places will be at stake. If the total placements by the top two of those three skaters are 13 or fewer, then South Korea will have three skaters at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. If the number is between 14 and 28, then South Korea will only be able to send two skaters to the Olympics.
At the Four Continents, Lee finished eighth with 183.10 points and Yun ranked ninth with 182.68 points. (Yonhap)